Book Image

The C++ Workshop

By : Dale Green, Kurt Guntheroth, Shaun Ross Mitchell
Book Image

The C++ Workshop

By: Dale Green, Kurt Guntheroth, Shaun Ross Mitchell

Overview of this book

C++ is the backbone of many games, GUI-based applications, and operating systems. Learning C++ effectively is more than a matter of simply reading through theory, as the real challenge is understanding the fundamentals in depth and being able to use them in the real world. If you're looking to learn C++ programming efficiently, this Workshop is a comprehensive guide that covers all the core features of C++ and how to apply them. It will help you take the next big step toward writing efficient, reliable C++ programs. The C++ Workshop begins by explaining the basic structure of a C++ application, showing you how to write and run your first program to understand data types, operators, variables and the flow of control structures. You'll also see how to make smarter decisions when it comes to using storage space by declaring dynamic variables during program runtime. Moving ahead, you'll use object-oriented programming (OOP) techniques such as inheritance, polymorphism, and class hierarchies to make your code structure organized and efficient. Finally, you'll use the C++ standard library?s built-in functions and templates to speed up different programming tasks. By the end of this C++ book, you will have the knowledge and skills to confidently tackle your own ambitious projects and advance your career as a C++ developer.
Table of Contents (15 chapters)

Shared Ownership of Dynamic Variables

Prior to C++11, a more limited smart pointer called auto_ptr<> was available in the standard library. Among the many limitations of the auto_ptr<> template class was the fact that it could not be used as the element type in C++ standard library container classes or to transfer ownership of a dynamic variable out of a function. The standard library contained a reference-counted smart pointer class called shared_ptr<> that could be used in function arguments, return values, and standard library containers. For a few years, some teams used shared_ptr<> exclusively and forbade the use of raw pointers.

The problem with shared_ptr<> is that it is expensive in terms of runtime instructions. In addition to the dynamic variable that shared_ptr<> owns, it creates a second dynamic variable to hold a reference count, as shown in Figure 7.8, and deletes the reference count when the last reference is deleted. Every...