I want to use BOOST Smart pointer for memory management in my application. But I'm not sure which smart pointer should I use for dynamically allocated array shared_ptr or shared_array.
According to the BOOST doc Starting with Boost release 1.53, shared_ptr can be used to hold a pointer to a dynamically allocated array.
So I'm just wondering now what purpose user should use shared_array instead of shared_ptr.
Before boost 1.53, shared_ptr is to be used for a pointer to a single object.
After 1.53, since shared_ptr can be used for array types, I think it's pretty much the same as shared_array.
But for now I don't think it's a good idea to use array type in shared_ptr, because C++11's std::shared_ptr has a bit different behavior on array type compared to boost::shared_ptr.
See shared_ptr to an array : should it be used? as reference for the difference.
So if you want your code compatible with C++11 and use std::shared_ptr instead, you need to use it carefully. Because:
Code look like below gets compile error (you need a custom deleter), while boost's version is OK.
std::shared_ptr<int[]> a(new int[5]); // Compile error
// You need to write like below:
std::shared_ptr<int> b(new int[5], std::default_delete<int[]>());
boost::shared_ptr<int[]> c(new int[5]); // OK
However, if you write code like below, you are likely to get segment fault
std::shared_ptr<T> a(new T[5]); // segment fault
boost::shared_ptr<T> b(new T[5]); // segment fault
The syntax of shared_ptr in std and boost are different and not compatible.
Additional information: consider boost::ptr_vector, which is a pretty fast implementation for dynamic allocated objects in vector. Just FYI in case you want this feature.
