Smart-Pointers

General Info

In some cases, an object created on the heap needs to be shared among multiple functions, methods, or other parts of the program. This can complicate the management of the object's lifetime and the appropriate timing for deallocating the memory it uses.

It would be helpful to use a convenient wrapper that automatically allocates memory for an object upon creation and releases the memory when the object is no longer needed. This is the purpose of smart pointers.

Smart Pointers Types

• UniquePtr ensures exclusive ownership of an object, allowing only one UniquePtr to point to it, and is designed to manage a single object's lifetime.
• SharedPtr provides shared ownership of an object, allowing multiple SharedPtrs to point to the same object, and is designed to manage a group of objects' lifetimes.
• IntrusivePtr provides a non-owning reference to an object managed by a SharedPtr, allowing a way to check if the object still exists without increasing its reference count, and is designed to avoid circular references between SharedPtr.
• IntrusivePtr is a light version of SharedPtr. Read more in IntrusivePtr readme.md