make_shared and allocate_shared for arrays

Introduction
Synopsis
Free Functions
Example

Introduction

One criticism of Boost shared_array is the lack of utility similar to make_shared which ensures only a single allocation for an array. A second criticism is Boost shared_array does not support custom allocators and so also lacks an allocate_shared utility.

The header files <boost/smart_ptr/make_shared_array.hpp> and <boost/smart_ptr/allocate_shared_array.hpp> provide new function templates, make_shared and allocate_shared, to address this need. make_shared uses the global operator new to allocate memory, whereas allocate_shared uses an user-supplied allocator, allowing finer control.

Synopsis

namespace boost {
    template<typename T>
    shared_ptr<T> make_shared(size_t size);

    template<typename T, typename A>
    shared_ptr<T> allocate_shared(const A& allocator, size_t size);
    
#if defined(BOOST_HAS_VARIADIC_TMPL) && defined(BOOST_HAS_RVALUE_REFS)
    template<typename T, typename... Args>
    shared_ptr<T> make_shared(size_t size, Args&&... args);
    
    template<typename T, typename A, typename... Args>
    shared_ptr<T> allocate_shared(const A& allocator, size_t size, Args&&... args);
#endif

    template<typename T>
    shared_ptr<T> make_shared_noinit(size_t size);
}

Free Functions

template<typename T, typename... Args>
    shared_ptr<T> make_shared(size_t size, Args&&... args);
template<typename T, typename A, typename... Args>
    shared_ptr<T> allocate_shared(const A& allocator, size_t size, Args&&... args);

Requires: The expression new(pointer) T(std::forward<Args>(args)...), where pointer is a void* pointing to storage suitable to hold an object of type T, shall be well-formed. A shall be an Allocator, as described in section 20.1.5 (Allocator requirements) of the C++ Standard. The copy constructor and destructor of A shall not throw.

Effects: Allocates memory suitable for an array of type T and size size and constructs an array of objects in it via the placement new expression new(pointer) T() or new(pointer) T(std::forward<Args>(args)...). allocate_shared uses a copy of allocator to allocate memory. If an exception is thrown, has no effect.

Returns: A shared_ptr instance that stores and owns the address of the newly constructed array of type T and size size.

Postconditions: get() != 0 && use_count() == 1.

Throws: bad_alloc, or an exception thrown from A::allocate or the constructor of T.

Notes: This implementation allocates the memory required for the returned shared_ptr and an array of type T of size size in a single allocation. This provides efficiency to equivalent to an intrusive smart array pointer.

The prototypes shown above are used if your compiler supports r-value references and variadic templates. They perfectly forward the args parameters to the constructors of T for each array element.

Otherwise, you can use the overloads which take only the array size (and the allocator in case of allocate_shared) and do not take any constructor arguments. These overloads invoke the default constructor of T for each array element.

Example

boost::shared_ptr<int[]> array = boost::make_shared<int[]>(size);

$Date: 2012-10-30 10:12:25 -0800 (Tue, 30 Oct 2012) $