Smart Pointers

Purpose

　　Smart pointers, compared with raw pointers, have value semantics, which means we can freely create, copy and change it. However, consider the example:

Widget *p = new Widget();

You can not copy or assign this pointer at will because it will lead to memory leak.

std::unique_ptr

1. A non-null std::unique_ptr always owns what it points to.
2. Copying is not allowed but you can use move to transfer ownership to another pointer.
3. Upon destruction, it destroys the resource.
4. Same size of raw pointers

std::shared_ptr

1. It can tell whether it is the last one pointing to a resource by consulting the resource’s reference count.
2. Twice the size of raw pointers due to the use of reference count. Internally, shared_ptr contains a pointer to the resource and a pointer to the resource’s reference count.

std::weak_ptr

1. Can not be dereferenced nor can they be tested for nullness
2. Point to the same place as the std::shared_ptr initialize it, but they will not affect the reference count of the object they point to