Beginning C++ Programming

Writing wrapper classes

There are several issues that you must address when writing a class to wrap a resource. The constructor will be used, either to obtain the resource using some library function (usually accessed through some kind of opaque handle) or will take the resource as a parameter. This resource is stored as a data member so other methods on the class can use it. The resource will be released in the destructor using whatever function your library provides to do this. This is the bare minimum. In addition, you have to think how the object will be used. Often such wrapper classes are most convenient if you can use instances as if they are the resource handle. This means that you maintain the same style of programming to access ...