Simon Richter-2 wrote:
That would be very similar to a ptr_* container that assumes ownership
of the object, with a common base class for all the objects to
facilitate destruction.
Glad to get some response :)
Requiring a common base class/interface is a huge demand. This would couple client code a lot for the sake of such a small utility and it wouldn't be directly compatible with already existing classes.
The proposed "heap" has very different semantics compared to a container. Once you put something in the heap you never want to access it again. All you want to achieve is delayed and synchronized destruction.
You can achieve similar functionality using a std::vector<boost::any> in which you insert boost::shared_ptrs. The syntax is a lot worse though and more importantly, more difficult to understand.
Compare:
std::vector<boost::any> keep_alive;
// Always use named smart ptrs
boost::shared_ptr<boost::signals::scoped_connection>
connection(new boost::signals::scoped_connection(signal, slot));
keep_alive.push_back(connection);
boost::heap keep_alive;
keep_alive.put(new boost::signals::scoped_connection(signal, slot));
In the latter case we clearly signal something - we're not interested in the connection variable, only it's lifetime.
Johan
