Item 43. auto_ptr Is Unusual

Whenever one discusses RAII, it’s necessary to discuss auto_ptr. This is always a task. It’s not that we’re ashamed of auto_ptr, mind you, but it’s kind of like explaining your brother to strangers; he’s a superlative person, but you have to be in the right frame of mind to appreciate that. And there’s no denying that both your brother and auto_ptr have a different worldview from the typical person or object, respectively.

As we discussed in RAII [40, 139], the use of resource handles is a pervasively employed technique in C++ programming, so the standard library supplies a resource handle template that serves many resource handle needs: auto_ptr. The auto_ptr class template is used to generate smart pointers (see ...

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