RE: Smart pointers was RE: [GD-General] Compile times

[Wayne C. <wc...@re...>]

> Non-deterministic was a poor choice of phrase.  More
> like "unpredictable" because, by definition, if you're using smart
> pointers you've opted to stop thinking about de-allocation of memory.
> So you're never quite sure when the "last reference" is released, since
> that can change as the code evolves.

I know this a GD list rather than an 'any app list' but do you have a
problem with smart pointer\ref counting per se. or just when it relates to
game development? :)

> > Doing all the memory management manually with naked calls
> > to new and delete is feasible with discipline and some programming
> > conventions, but there are usually a few instances where this becomes
> > difficult.
> 
> Where is it difficult to rely on convention and discipline?

COM or a similar object model provides one source where the creator may not
necessarily be the one who destroys a particular object. The object may be
passed into a completely different part of the system which wants it to
stick around. A game environment is quite a controlled environment, but I've
heard of a few game engines that use COM (or similar) for their object
model.

Wayne
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