Improve alignment of its behaviour with std::unique_ptr
- element_type typedef
- release() method - identical to ptr() method
- get() method to get the pointer without checking and without releasing it.
- operator*() for dereferencing
Method name changes
- renamed rawPtr() to get()
- renamed rawRef() to ref(), removed unused const version.
Removed methods/operators
- assignment from a raw pointer was deleted (was rarely used).
Can be convenient, but uncontrolled and potentially unsafe.
Do allow assignment from a literal nullptr though, since this
can never leak (and also corresponds to the unique_ptr API).
Additional methods
- clone() method: forwards to the clone() method of the underlying
data object with argument forwarding.
- reset(autoPtr&&) as an alternative to operator=(autoPtr&&)
STYLE: avoid implicit conversion from autoPtr to object type in many places
- existing implementation has the following:
operator const T&() const { return operator*(); }
which means that the following code works:
autoPtr<mapPolyMesh> map = ...;
updateMesh(*map); // OK: explicit dereferencing
updateMesh(map()); // OK: explicit dereferencing
updateMesh(map); // OK: implicit dereferencing
for clarity it may preferable to avoid the implicit dereferencing
- prefer operator* to operator() when deferenced a return value
so it is clearer that a pointer is involve and not a function call
etc Eg, return *meshPtr_; vs. return meshPtr_();
- use succincter method names that more closely resemble dictionary
and HashTable method names. This improves method name consistency
between classes and also requires less typing effort:
args.found(optName) vs. args.optionFound(optName)
args.readIfPresent(..) vs. args.optionReadIfPresent(..)
...
args.opt<scalar>(optName) vs. args.optionRead<scalar>(optName)
args.read<scalar>(index) vs. args.argRead<scalar>(index)
- the older method names forms have been retained for code compatibility,
but are now deprecated
