Smart Pointer of String

• Templates
• Inheritance
• Reference Counting
• Smart Pointers

UCObject

• UCObject holds the count
  • use-counted object

UCPointer

• UCPointer is a smart pointer to a UCObject
  • Using a template
  • Overloads -> and *

Relationship

• String has a UCPointer
• UCPointer has a StringRep
• StringRep is a UCObject(inheritance)

Critique

• UCPointer maintains reference counts
• UCObject hides the details of the count String is very clean
• StringRep deals only with string storage and manipulation
• UCObject and UCPointer are reusable
• Objects with cycles of UCPointer will never be deleted