Re: [Opencxx-users] C++ design patterns

[SF M. E. <el...@us...>]

> (1) Sometimes you need a special value to mark "error", "not supplied",
>     "the end" etc., so it is convenient to use null pointer for this
>     purpose.

Please look at a design or an implementation of the standard template library.
Example: I think that the iterators do not need pointers in their public interfaces to mark special positions.
- http://boost.org/libs/iterator/doc/index.html
- http://dtemplatelib.sourceforge.net/index.htm
- http://www.melikyan.com/ptypes/


> (2) References have different assignment semantics than pointers.
>     Changing pointer class data members into references will most likely
>     change the assignment semantics of the class.

Which copy semantics do you use at the moment?


> (3) As I already mentioned, references can potentially confuse
>     garbage collector.

How do Java references fit into this picture?
Can "smart pointers" help?
http://boost.org/libs/smart_ptr/smart_ptr.htm