10 ms·

I disagree. You have to be absolutely certain at all times whether you're holding on to a reference to a shared data structure or you have your own copy, unless

• fhd2 13y ago
  You mean that it's not clear if copying the handle will copy the data or just create another reference? At least in the STL that's kinda clear: vector will copy its elements (if they are pointers, it'll copy the pointers. if they are values it'll copy all the data), shared_ptr will copy the handle pointing to the same shared object, unique_ptr is not copyable and so on. But agreed, it's opaque when working with third party code. Gotta figure out the conventions.
  • fauigerzigerk 13y ago
    >You mean that it's not clear if copying the handle will copy the data or just create another reference? Exactly. In the STL, if it looks like a value copy it is a value copy, but the handle pattern that Stroustrup prefers gives you no clue whatsoever as to what's going to happen. You have to figure it out one class at a time.