Quote:Original post by Syranide
I tried their shared_ptr example and sure it works, but, I cannot assign elements to the hash_map if it would be out of the local scope (since as soon as the local scope ends, the inserted element will free itself)...

If you've inserted the element into the hash map, then there will be another reference to the object, and the object won't be destroyed when the first reference goes out of scope.

the shared_ptr is useful for multiple pointers pointing to the same object. shared_array is the same thing, but for arrays. scoped_ptr and scoped_array are good for inside local functions when you want a pointer, and won't need it outside of that function (you want it to be destroyed at the end of the function). weak_ptr "observes" an object owned by a shared_ptr and can break circular references. intrusive_ptr is good for working with APIs (like DirectX) that keep their own referance count. You can tell the intrusive_ptr how to delete the pointer (in the DirectX case, just call Release). intrusive_ptr is also lightweight and is the same size as a raw pointer as long as you implement the reference counting yourself inside your class. The shared_ptr, shared_array, and weak_ptr can be used in stl containers.

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