Professional C++, 3rd Edition

Chapter 22Memory Management

WHAT’S IN THIS CHAPTER?

• Different ways to use and manage memory
• The often-perplexing relationship between arrays and pointers
• A low-level look at working with memory
• Smart pointers and how to use them
• Solutions to a few memory-related problems

WROX.COM DOWNLOADS FOR THIS CHAPTER

Please note that all the code examples for this chapter are available as a part of this chapter’s code download on the book’s website at www.wrox.com/go/proc++3e on the Download Code tab.

In many ways, programming in C++ is like driving without a road. Sure, you can go anywhere you want, but there are no lines or traffic lights to keep you from injuring yourself. C++, like the C language, has a hands-off approach toward its programmers. The language assumes that you know what you’re doing. It allows you to do things that are likely to cause problems because C++ is incredibly flexible and sacrifices safety in favor of performance.

Memory allocation and management is a particularly error-prone area of C++ programming. To write high-quality C++ programs, professional C++ programmers need to understand how memory works behind the scenes. This chapter explores the ins and outs of memory management. You will learn about the pitfalls of dynamic memory and some techniques for avoiding and eliminating them.

This chapter comes late in the book because in modern C++ you should avoid low-level memory operations as much as possible. For example, instead of dynamically allocated C-style ...