More Effective C++

Acknowledgments xi Introduction 1 Basics 9 Item 1: Distinguish between pointers and references. 9 Item 2: Prefer C++-style casts. 12 Item 3: Never treat arrays polymorphically. 16 Item 4: Avoid gratuitous default constructors. 19 Operators 24 Item 5: Be wary of user-defined conversion functions. 24 Item 6: Distinguish between prefix and postfix forms of increment and decrement operators. 31 Item 7: Never overload &&, ||, or ,. 35 Item 8: Understand the different meanings of new and delete. 38 Exceptions 44 Item 9: Use destructors to prevent resource leaks. 45 Item 10: Prevent resource leaks in constructors. 50 Item 11: Prevent exceptions from leaving destructors. 58 Item 12: Understand how throwing an exception differs from passing a parameter or calling a virtual function. 61 Item 13: Catch exceptions by reference. 68 Item 14: Use exception specifications judiciously. 72 Item 15: Understand the costs of exception handling. 78 Efficiency 81 Item 16: Remember the 80-20 rule. 82 Item 17: Consider using lazy evaluation. 85 Item 18: Amortize the cost of expected computations. 93 Item 19: Understand the origin of temporary objects. 98 Item 20: Facilitate the return value optimization. 101 Item 21: Overload to avoid implicit type conversions. 105 Item 22: Consider using op= instead of stand-alone op. 107 Item 23: Consider alternative libraries. 110 Item 24: Understand the costs of virtual functions, multiple inheritance, virtual base classes, and RTTI. 113 Techniques 123 Item 25: Virtualizing constructors and non-member functions. 123 Item 26: Limiting the number of objects of a class. 130 Item 27: Requiring or prohibiting heap-based objects. 145 Item 28: Smart pointers. 159 Item 29: Reference counting. 183 Item 30: Proxy classes. 213 Item 31: Making functions virtual with respect to more than one object. 228 Miscellany 252 Item 32: Program in the future tense. 252 Item 33: Make non-leaf classes abstract. 258 Item 34: Understand how to combine C++ and C in the

Scott Meyers is one of the world's foremost authorities on C++, providing training and consulting services to clients worldwide. He is the author of the best-selling Effective C++ series of books (Effective C++, More Effective C++, and Effective STL) and of the innovative Effective C++ CD. He is consulting editor for Addison Wesley's Effective Software Development Series and serves on the Advisory Board for The C++ Source (http://www.artima.com/cppsource). He holds a Ph.D. in Computer Science from Brown University. His web site is http://www.aristeia.com.