Smart Pointer

Unique Pointer (unique_ptr)

Introduced in C++11, included in the <memory> library as expected. Learned in CS247 - Software Engineering Principles.

Use cases for unique_ptr

unique_ptr are good for representing ownership (owns-a), since when one object dies, its unique_ptr fields will run and clean up the associated object.

• Resources: https://en.cppreference.com/w/cpp/memory/unique_ptr

You can access the underlying raw pointer of a smart pointer via .get().

Do not create unique_ptr with a pointer.

Preferred alternative: std::make_unique<T>(...)

This constructs a T object in the heap with arguments (…), and returns a unique_ptr<T> pointing at this object.

todo