Management of a vector of pointers as a class member - c++

Question

I am in a rather specific situation that requires me to use a vector of raw pointers as a class member:
I need to keep a list of abstract objects (I understood I could not use vector<AbstractClass> directly).
I can't use Boost or std::tr1, so no smart pointer library (because of constraints from the hardware I'm using).
Here is a basic example of what I need:
#include <vector>
class Foo
{
virtual void foo() {}
};
class Bar : public Foo
{
void foo(){}
};
class FooBar
{
vector<Foo*> list;
void add(){ list.push_back(new Bar()); }
};
Coming from Java, I am very scared of pointers and memory leaks. This post initially suggests to delete the objects manually when the object goes out of scope. Is it enough to do this in the destructor of FooBar?
class FooBar
{
vector<Foo*> list;
void add(){ list.push_back(new Bar()); }
~FooBar(){
for(vector<Foo*>::iterator it=list.begin(); it!=list.end(); it++)
delete *it;
}
};
By the rule of three, I guess I also have to implement a copy constructor and an assignment operator. Is the following (based on this and that posts) a correct implementation ?
FooBar::FooBar(const FooBar& orig) : list(orig.list.size()) {
try {
vector<Foo*>::iterator thisit = list.begin();
vector<Foo*>::const_iterator thatit = orig.list.cbegin();
for (; thatit != orig.list.cend(); ++thisit, ++thatit)
*thisit = *thatit; // I'm okay with a shallow copy
} catch (...) {
for (vector<Foo*>::iterator i = list.begin(); i != list.end(); ++i)
if (!*i)
break;
else
delete *i;
throw;
}
}
FooBar& operator=(const FooBar& orig){
FooBar tmp(orig);
swap(tmp);
return *this;
}

Answer 1

Your code has some major flaws as far as I can tell. First of all, your first code is correct, and yes, your destructor does what it should do, as long as your class owns the objects and doesn't get copied.
Also, your copy constructor and assignment operator looks problematic. First of all, if you are okay with shallow copying, you don't even have to write the functions anyway, std::vector's copy constructor and assignment operators do what you have done manually anyway. I don't think you need that try-catch block. By the way, where is the implementation for that swap in your assignment operator?
For your purposes, a very small reference counting scheme would work:
class FooPtr
{
Foo* _raw;
size_t* _ctl;
FooPtr(Foo* ptr) :
_raw(ptr), _ctl(new size_t(0))
{
}
template <class T>
FooPtr(T* ptr) : FooPtr(static_cast<Foo*>(ptr)) {}
FooPtr(const FooPtr& rhs) :
_raw(rhs._raw), _ctl(rhs._ctl)
{
++(*_ctl);
}
~FooPtr()
{
if (_raw == nullptr) return;
--(*_ctl);
if (*_ctl == 0)
{
delete _raw;
delete _ctl;
}
}
FooPtr& operator=(FooPtr ptr)
{
std::swap(*this, ptr);
return *this;
}
Foo* operator->()
{
return _raw;
}
Foo& operator*()
{
return *_raw;
}
}
Your class now looks like this, no destructor, copy ctor or assignment operator needed:
class FooBar
{
vector<FooPtr> list;
void add(){ list.emplace_back(new Bar()); }
}
I've written this quickly, it might contain bugs though it gives you the basic idea I suppose. Also, I've used some c++11 features like emplace_back and nullptr but they can easily be converted in non 11 code.

Answer 2

I would write a small wrapper around a vector that frees the elements for you:
template<class Container>
void delete_elements(Container& cont) {
typedef typename Container::reverse_iterator iterator;
iterator end = container.rend();
for (iterator i = container.rbegin(); end != i; ++i) {
delete *i;
}
}
struct deep_copy {
template<typename T>
T* operator()(T const* const other) {
return other->clone();
}
}
template<typename T>
struct ptr_vector {
std::vector<T*> container;
ptr_vector() { }
ptr_vector(ptr_vector const& other) {
std::vector<T*> tmp;
tmp.reserve(other.container.size());
try {
std::transform(other.container.begin(), other.container.end(),
std::back_inserter(tmp), deep_copy());
}
catch (...) {
(delete_elements)(tmp);
throw;
}
container.swap(tmp);
}
ptr_vector& operator=(ptr_vector other) {
container.swap(other.container);
return *this;
}
~ptr_vector() {
(delete_elements)(container);
}
};
Now you can just use a ptr_vector<Foo> v and use v.container to add elements. Note: you should add a clone member function to your base class so you don't slice when you want to copy.