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<div class="document" id="boost-pointer-container-library">
<h1 class="title"><img alt="Boost" src="boost.png" /> Pointer Container Library</h1>
<h2 class="subtitle" id="conventions">Conventions</h2>
<p>There are a few design decisions that will affect how the classes are
used. Besides these the classes are much like normal standard containers
and provides almost the same interface. The new conventions are:</p>
<div class="contents topic" id="contents">
<ul class="simple">
<li><a class="reference" href="#null-pointers-are-not-allowed-by-default" id="id3" name="id3">Null pointers are not allowed by default</a></li>
<li><a class="reference" href="#all-default-iterators-apply-an-extra-layer-of-indirection" id="id4" name="id4">All default iterators apply an extra layer of indirection</a></li>
<li><a class="reference" href="#all-comparison-operations-are-done-on-the-pointed-to-objects-and-not-at-the-pointer-level" id="id5" name="id5">All comparison operations are done on the pointed to objects and not at the pointer level</a></li>
<li><a class="reference" href="#the-containers-are-neither-copy-constructible-nor-assignable" id="id6" name="id6">The containers are neither Copy Constructible nor Assignable</a></li>
<li><a class="reference" href="#stored-elements-are-required-to-be-clonable-for-a-subset-of-the-operations" id="id7" name="id7">Stored elements are required to be Clonable for a subset of the operations</a></li>
<li><a class="reference" href="#whenever-objects-are-inserted-into-a-container-they-are-cloned-before-insertion" id="id8" name="id8">Whenever objects are inserted into a container, they are cloned before insertion</a></li>
<li><a class="reference" href="#whenever-pointers-are-inserted-into-a-container-ownership-is-transferred-to-the-container" id="id9" name="id9">Whenever pointers are inserted into a container, ownership is transferred to the container</a></li>
<li><a class="reference" href="#ownership-can-be-transferred-from-a-container-on-a-per-pointer-basis" id="id10" name="id10">Ownership can be transferred from a container on a per pointer basis</a></li>
<li><a class="reference" href="#ownership-can-be-transferred-from-a-container-to-another-container-on-a-per-iterator-range-basis" id="id11" name="id11">Ownership can be transferred from a container to another container on a per iterator range basis</a></li>
<li><a class="reference" href="#a-container-can-be-cheaply-returned-from-functions-either-by-making-a-clone-or-by-giving-up-ownership-of-the-container" id="id12" name="id12">A container can be cheaply returned from functions either by making a clone or by giving up ownership of the container</a></li>
<li><a class="reference" href="#iterators-are-invalidated-as-in-the-corresponding-standard-container" id="id13" name="id13">Iterators are invalidated as in the corresponding standard container</a></li>
</ul>
</div>
<div class="section" id="null-pointers-are-not-allowed-by-default">
<h1><a class="toc-backref" href="#id3" name="null-pointers-are-not-allowed-by-default">Null pointers are not allowed by default</a></h1>
<p>If the user tries to insert the null pointer, the operation will throw a
<tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">bad_pointer</span></tt> exception (see <a class="reference" href="examples.html">Example 1</a>).</p>
<p>Use <a class="reference" href="reference.html#class-nullable">nullable</a> to allow null pointers.</p>
<p>Please notice that all preconditions of the form</p>
<pre class="literal-block">
x != 0;
</pre>
<p>are not active when the you have instantiated a container
with <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">nullable<T></span></tt> as in</p>
<pre class="literal-block">
boost::ptr_vector< boost::nullable<animal> > vec;
vec.push_back( 0 ); // ok
</pre>
</div>
<div class="section" id="all-default-iterators-apply-an-extra-layer-of-indirection">
<h1><a class="toc-backref" href="#id4" name="all-default-iterators-apply-an-extra-layer-of-indirection">All default iterators apply an extra layer of indirection</a></h1>
<p>This is done to
make the containers easier and safer to use. It promotes a kind of
pointer-less programming and the user of a class needs not worry about
pointers except when allocating them (see <a class="reference" href="examples.html">Example 2</a>). Iterators that
provide access to the naked pointers are also provided since they might be
useful in rare cases. For example, whenever <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">begin()</span></tt> returns an iterator,
<tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">ptr_begin()</span></tt> will return an iterator that allows one to iterate over the
stored pointers.</p>
</div>
<div class="section" id="all-comparison-operations-are-done-on-the-pointed-to-objects-and-not-at-the-pointer-level">
<h1><a class="toc-backref" href="#id5" name="all-comparison-operations-are-done-on-the-pointed-to-objects-and-not-at-the-pointer-level">All comparison operations are done on the pointed to objects and not at the pointer level</a></h1>
<p>For example, in <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">ptr_set<T></span></tt> the ordering is by default done by
<tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">boost::ptr_less<T></span></tt> which compares the indirected pointers.
Similarly, <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">operator==()</span></tt> for <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">container<Foo></span></tt> compares all objects
with <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">operator==(const</span> <span class="pre">Foo&,</span> <span class="pre">const</span> <span class="pre">Foo&)</span></tt>.</p>
</div>
<div class="section" id="the-containers-are-neither-copy-constructible-nor-assignable">
<h1><a class="toc-backref" href="#id6" name="the-containers-are-neither-copy-constructible-nor-assignable">The containers are neither Copy Constructible nor Assignable</a></h1>
<p>This is
because cloning a lot of pointers can be a very expensive operation;
instead functions are provided to transfer ownership. If a deep-copy is
needed anyway, every container has a <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">clone()</span></tt> member function
(see <a class="reference" href="examples.html">Example 3</a>).</p>
</div>
<div class="section" id="stored-elements-are-required-to-be-clonable-for-a-subset-of-the-operations">
<h1><a name="stored-elements-are-required-to-be-clonable-for-a-subset-of-the-operations">Stored elements are required to be <a class="reference" href="reference.html#the-clonable-concept">Clonable</a> for a subset of the operations</a></h1>
<p>This is because most polymorphic objects cannot be copied directly, but
they can often be so by a use of a member function (see <a class="reference" href="examples.html">Example 4</a>). Often
it does not even make sense to clone an object in which case a large
subset of the operations are still workable.</p>
</div>
<div class="section" id="whenever-objects-are-inserted-into-a-container-they-are-cloned-before-insertion">
<h1><a class="toc-backref" href="#id8" name="whenever-objects-are-inserted-into-a-container-they-are-cloned-before-insertion">Whenever objects are inserted into a container, they are cloned before insertion</a></h1>
<p>This is necessary because all pointer containers take ownerships of stored objects
(see <a class="reference" href="examples.html">Example 5</a>).</p>
</div>
<div class="section" id="whenever-pointers-are-inserted-into-a-container-ownership-is-transferred-to-the-container">
<h1><a class="toc-backref" href="#id9" name="whenever-pointers-are-inserted-into-a-container-ownership-is-transferred-to-the-container">Whenever pointers are inserted into a container, ownership is transferred to the container</a></h1>
<p>All containers take ownership of the stored pointers and therefore a
container needs to have its own copies (see <a class="reference" href="examples.html">Example 5</a>).</p>
</div>
<div class="section" id="ownership-can-be-transferred-from-a-container-on-a-per-pointer-basis">
<h1><a class="toc-backref" href="#id10" name="ownership-can-be-transferred-from-a-container-on-a-per-pointer-basis">Ownership can be transferred from a container on a per pointer basis</a></h1>
<p>This can of course also be convenient. Whenever it happens, an
<tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">SmartContainer::auto_type</span></tt> object is used to provide an exception-safe transfer
(see <a class="reference" href="examples.html">Example 6</a>).</p>
</div>
<div class="section" id="ownership-can-be-transferred-from-a-container-to-another-container-on-a-per-iterator-range-basis">
<h1><a class="toc-backref" href="#id11" name="ownership-can-be-transferred-from-a-container-to-another-container-on-a-per-iterator-range-basis">Ownership can be transferred from a container to another container on a per iterator range basis</a></h1>
<p>This makes it possible to exchange data safely between different pointer
containers without cloning the objects again (see <a class="reference" href="examples.html">Example 7</a>).</p>
</div>
<div class="section" id="a-container-can-be-cheaply-returned-from-functions-either-by-making-a-clone-or-by-giving-up-ownership-of-the-container">
<h1><a class="toc-backref" href="#id12" name="a-container-can-be-cheaply-returned-from-functions-either-by-making-a-clone-or-by-giving-up-ownership-of-the-container">A container can be cheaply returned from functions either by making a clone or by giving up ownership of the container</a></h1>
<p>Two special member functions, <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">clone()</span></tt> and <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">release()</span></tt>, both return an
<tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">auto_ptr<SmartContainer></span></tt> which can be assigned to another pointer container. This
effectively reduces the cost of returning a container to one
heap-allocation plus a call to <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">swap()</span></tt> (see <a class="reference" href="examples.html">Example 3</a>).</p>
</div>
<div class="section" id="iterators-are-invalidated-as-in-the-corresponding-standard-container">
<h1><a class="toc-backref" href="#id13" name="iterators-are-invalidated-as-in-the-corresponding-standard-container">Iterators are invalidated as in the corresponding standard container</a></h1>
<p>Because the containers in this library wrap standard containers, the
rules for invalidation of iterators are the same as the rules
of the corresponding standard container.</p>
<p>For example, for both <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">boost::ptr_vector<T></span></tt> and <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">std::vector<U></span></tt>
insertion and deletion only invalidates the deleted
element and elements following it; all elements before the inserted/deleted
element remain valid.</p>
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