Smart pointers are pretty cool, don’t you think? You can easily represent the lifetime semantics of an object in its type (and have it checked by the compiler to some extent).

Nevertheless, I will assert that smart pointers are bad as part of an API. I can easily make that statement, but what about an example? And how might an API be better expressed?

A Logging API

Imagine I’m making a logging API, and I have a logger type that I want to create lazily. It’ll be implemented as a singleton-ish, where I create it based on the parameters a user has given me, and I return a reference to it when they ask for the same logger instance based on the parameters. I also want to destroy the logger object when they no longer refer to it. Here’s what an implementation might look like:

namespace { // All the loggers we might create map < logger_params , weak_ptr < logger >> loggers ; mutex loggers_mutex ; } /** * Get a shared_ptr to a logger instance. It may already exist, or it may need * to be created within this call. */ shared_ptr < logger > logging :: logger :: get_or_create ( logger_params params ) { unique_lock map_lock { loggers_mutex }; // Find an existing entry auto existing = loggers . find ( params ); if ( existing == loggers . end ()) { // Create a new instance from the parameters auto ret = make_shared < logger > ( params , logger :: create_cookie {}); // Insert it in our map loggers . emplace ( params , ret ); // Return the shared_ptr to the caller return ret ; } // We found an entry. Lock the weak_ptr to get a shared_ptr shared_ptr < logger > ret = existing -> second . lock (); if ( ! ret ) { // The weak_ptr expired, so we need to recreate the logger. ret = make_shared < logger > ( params , logger :: create_cookie {}); // Fill the entry with the new instance existing -> second = ret ; } return ret ; }

This is a pretty common design. It could be optimized in a few places, but don’t worry about that for the purpose of this post. The idea is that we ensure our logger object will only live as long as people need to hold on to it.

What does class logger look like? It’s not hugely interesting, but maybe something like this:

namespace logging { class logger { struct create_cookie {}; enum class level { debug , info , warning , error , }; void _log ( level , string ); public: logger ( logger_params params , create_cookie ); void debug ( string str ) { _log ( level :: debug , str ); } void info ( string str ) { _log ( level :: info , str ); } void warning ( string str ) { _log ( level :: warning , str ); } void error ( string str ) { _log ( level :: error , str ); } static shared_ptr < logger > get_or_create ( logger_params ); }; }

The create_cookie type prevents others from creating logger instance directly, but allows us to use make_shared by passing through a create_cookie .

And using our logging API:

int main () { // Get a logger auto log = logging :: logger :: get_or_create ( create_main_logger_params ()); // Write some output log . info ( "Hello, world!" ); // The logger will automatically close at the end of this scope }

Looks good, but…

main.cpp:9:8: error: no member named 'info' in 'shared_ptr<logging::logger>'; did you mean to use '->' instead of '.'? log.info("Hello, world!"); ^ ->

Clang is pretty helpful, and swapping -> for . does indeed fix the issue, but an unfamiliar user will wonder “Why is this a shared_ptr ?”

It’s not a hard question to answer. We’ve answered it in the comment above, and the name shared_ptr gives a hint: This is a logger that other people may be sharing with us, and it will live as long as all references to it.

OOF

Maybe we want to be clever and close our logger early to release some resources? Well, we know that the destructor will close the logger, and that we call the destructor when we release references to it. How do you drop a reference in a shared_ptr ?

int main () { shared_ptr < logger > log = ...; /** * Do some stuff */ // We're done with the logger. Free those resources! log . reset (); /** * Do more stuff */ }

This works perfectly.

… For a few hours/days/weeks/months/years.

Then a new developer comes around (long after you have been hit by a bus), and they add this:

// [Ignore the new name. It's been a few years.] int FooBuilder :: BeanRegistrySingletonFramer :: SuperBeanFactoryBuilder () { shared_ptr < logger > log = ...; /** * Same stuff from years ago */ // 300 lines later, or perhaps 3 modules diagonally log -> info ( "We've done something!" ); }

Oops. Now you are dereferencing a null pointer. Best case scenario: You build with a non-null assertion in shared_ptr and you’ll get a "You dereferenced a null pointer" message at runtime. Next best case: You get a crash with little information. Worst case: The compiler sees you doing this and knows that you cannot reach this line, elides all noexcept code immediately prior to this call, and appends a ud2 instruction to the function.

It’s All About Invariants

A type system is meant to encode invariants that can be ensured by the language. Once you introduce nullability to a type, you introduce a little asterisk to all of your invariants of “Not with a null pointer.” Some languages have implicit nullability, and that can become an absolute nightmare, where all code in all places has invariants contingent upon the precondition of “The thing you gave me isn’t null , I hope.”

C++ does not have implicit nullability. Value types are never null, and references are never null. C++ has explicit nullability via T* , smart pointers, and constructs like optional<T> . When you introduce nullability to a type, all logic working with it must now work with the assumption that null is now a valid state for the object. If you do not assume this, you are treading on thin ice. Unfortunately, the C++ type system is not yet aware of null -checks (A “flow” type system), so we must use our own human hearts and hands to ensure we do these checks.

By creating an API that returns and accepts smart pointers, you are introducing nullability where it is not appropriate.

Sockets. They’re Like Files, but they Talk Back

Let’s invent an imaginary socket API:

class socket { struct create_cookie {}; public: using native_handle = ...; socket ( native_handle handle , create_cookie ); ~ socket (); // Closes the handle void send ( const_buffer ); void receive ( mutable_buffer ); static unique_ptr < socket > connect ( string host , string service ); };

Let’s use it to make a really simplistic HTTP library:

struct request { // Things... }; struct response { // Things... }; respones send_request ( request req ) { string host = parse_url_host ( req . url ); string port = parse_url_port ( req . url ); auto sock = socket :: connect ( host , port ); /** * Send the request headers */ // ... /** * Send the request body */ // ... response ret ; /** * Receive the response headers */ // ... /** * Receive the respones body */ // ... return ret ; }

Even with just dummy placeholder comments, this is quite a lengthy function! We want to be a good citizen and refactor this into distinct functions to do each step:

void send_headers ( request & req , socket ) {

Wait! We can’t pass a socket raw. It’s a non-copyable type.

void send_headers ( request & req , socket & sock ) {

Better, but now we’re in a really weird place: The API to socket wants us to use -> to access the member functions of the socket, but we’re passing a socket& , so now all the members are accessed via a plain . operator. We want uniformity:

void send_headers ( request & req , unique_ptr < socket > sock ) {

Uh… No. Now we won’t be able to send_body because send_headers stole the socket when we have to move(sock) to call send_headers .

void send_headers ( request & req , unique_ptr < socket >& sock ) {

Well that’s pretty horrible. What even are the semantics of a reference to a unique_ptr ? Maybe we should just go back to using socket& …

Semantic Syntax

socket& is obviously the most pragmatic, clean, and useful type to use here. The trouble is the question of “Why do we use -> in one place and . in another? And why do we say send_headers(req, *sock) ? Why the *sock ?”

The useless answer is “because in one place it’s a pointer, and the other it is a reference.” This may be true, but it’s not helpful. The real answer is “The API is bad.”

The arrow -> is usually interpreted to mean “We’re doing an indirection here,” but that’s not what it means intrinsically. It just calls operator-> (for smart pointers). The reason pointers use -> instead of . is a bit more arcane than that. There’s no technical reason that raw pointers (as they are currently defined) cannot use . .

In addition, we can just as well understand . as an “indirection” of loading the address of the left hand, and performing an addition to obtain a reference to the sub-object.

Another point to revive is that we’ve just brought back the concept of nullability to our socket type. Oh joy.

No “Raw” Pointers

So, what would my ideal logger API look like? I dunno. But I know how I can make a better one than the one I showed earlier:

namespace logging { namespace detail { enum class log_level { debug , info , warning , error , }; class logger_impl { struct create_cookie {}; public: logger_impl ( logger_params params , create_cookie ); void _log ( level , string ); static shared_ptr < logger_impl > get_or_create ( logger_params ); }; } // namespace detail class shared_logger { shared_ptr < detail :: logger_impl > _impl ; shared_logger ( shared_ptr < detail :: logger_impl > i ) : _impl ( i ) {} public: static shared_logger get_or_create ( logger_params params ) { return shared_logger ( detail :: logger_impl :: get_or_create ( params )); } void debug ( string s ) { _impl -> log ( detail :: log_level :: debug , s ); } void info ( string s ) { _impl -> log ( detail :: log_level :: info , s ); } void warning ( string s ) { _impl -> log ( detail :: log_level :: warning , s ); } void error ( string s ) { _impl -> log ( detail :: log_level :: error , s ); } } }

We now have an API where using -> to access members is unnecessary, and it is impossible to “get clever” and “null-out” the logger before it is destroyed. No more nullability!

We still have our singleton-style semantics, though.

What about a better socket type?

class socket { public: using native_handle = ...; private: native_handle _h ; public: socket ( native_handle handle ); ~ socket (); // Closes the handle socket ( socket && s ) : _h ( exchange ( s . _h , make_null_handle ())) {} socket & operator = ( socket && s ) { swap ( s . _h , _h ); return * this ; } void send ( const_buffer ); void receive ( mutable_buffer ); static socket connect ( string host , string service ); };

This one is a bit more subtle: connect now returns a socket directly rather than a unique_ptr , and I’ve defined move operators for the class that ensure the handle is only owned by one socket at a time. We can now pass socket& objects back-and-forth like the proper types they are.

Make Libraries Good

Instead of handing off responsibility of lifetimes to a smart pointer and saying “Here: You deal with it,” I’ve written a bit more code to give my users a better and more intuitive API (and in the socket example, removed an allocation).

The C++ toolbox is huge. Choosing the right tool for the right job is of paramount importance. C++ is also called a language “for library authors,” and I’m inclined to agree: Much of the language’s complexity is aimed at providing solutions for library authors, not application developers. It’s the job of the library author to hide this complexity so that people can build great applications.

If you’re a library author, make sure you’re taking advantage of all the tools at your disposal.

That doesn’t mean we can just sprinkle smart pointers everywhere like fairy dust and expect it to solve all of our lifetime semantics problems.

Addendum: Nullability and Moved-From Semantics

After posting this article, several expressed the concern that “moved-from” is essentially the same as “being null.” As such, a “moved-from” shared_logger is effectively “null”.

On the subject of “moved-from” objects, I’ll defer to Howard Hinnant, as he addressed the subject more eloquently and completely than I can do in both this StackOverflow answer, and this presentation he gave at Bloomberg.

The standard only speaks toward types defined in the standard library, but it works as a good guideline for almost any type. That is this:

Unless otherwise specified, … moved-from objects shall be placed in a valid but unspecified state.

The key words are “valid but unspecified.” This has the effect that the object is still valid, but that one cannot be guaranteed of any particular state. This means we can use the object in any context which does not have preconditions. Common operations without preconditions are destruction ~T() and assignment T::operator=(T) .

We can go further in specific instances to afford our users additional guarantees, or inform them of additional restrictions.

A potential flaw in my shared_logger design is that I have not specified any preconditions on the logging methods. There are three ways to go about solving this:

Option 1: Assume that “moved-from” shared_logger objects are unusable

This is the current design, and is how many user-defined types behave. Suppose this:

void foo ( Something & thing ) { thing . meow (); } void bar ( Something * thing ) { foo ( * thing ); }

Let’s say that the thing parameter to bar might be nullptr . Where is the bug, then? Is it in bar , or is it in foo ?

Of course the bug is in bar . The reason foo is bug-free is that references are never “null”.

“But wait!” I hear you cry, “You are dereferencing a null pointer and binding a reference to it!” Sure, this is true, and this is something you can type into a source file: It is true, but it is not useful.

We must program with the assumption that a T& was bound to a valid object. Without this assumption, our programs are inherently meaningless and all code is fundamentally broken. We cannot reason about a program where T& has been bound using to an invalid T* .

We might say the same of some moved-from types:

void foo ( shared_logger & log ) { log . info ( "Hello!" ); }

What if someone passed us a moved-from shared_logger ? We do not document any preconditions on info , nor do we specify the state of a moved-from shared_logger . As such, the best we can do is write code the assumption that our caller has not given us a moved-from object.

Option 2: Document that “moved-from” shared_logger objects are effectively dead

This is mostly a documentation change, as there is no way to enforce that a user to never touch a moved-from object. We may do well to insert assertions in the methods of shared_logger to check that the object has not been moved-from. Here is what such a documentation might look like:

For a moved-from shared_logger object, the behavior of all operations on are undefined, except for those of destruction and assignment.

This is not much of a change from the prior section, as all rules still apply.

Option 3: Remove the “moved-from” state

The only reason the shared_logger has a “moved-from” state to begin with is that it has a move constructor and assignment operator. Although they weren’t written in the definition of shared_logger , they are generated as defaulted by the compiler to do a member-wise move. This has the effect that the internal _impl shared_ptr will be moved when the containing object is moved. A moved-from shared_ptr in an unspecified state, and the operator-> , having a non-null precondition, becomes undefined behavior.

All of this can be alleviated with a single public declaration in the body of shared_logger :

shared_logger ( const shared_logger & ) = default ;

Done. This will inhibit the generation of a move-constructor and move-assignment-operator, and our type will effectively become “copy-only.” The defaulted copy operations do a member-wise copy, and a copy of the _impl shared_ptr will increment the reference count but remain otherwise unchanged. This affords the new guarantee that shared_logger objects are always valid, even in the case that they are “moved-from” (because “move” is now defined as a regular copy).

On the Subject of “Unique” Types

I’ve covered the “moved-from” “nullability” of shared_logger , but not of socket . The cleanest solution for shared_logger is Option #3, but that is not an option for socket , which is specifically move-only.

We could change the socket to be copy-only, but this changes the semantics of the library. A logger is amenable to being “shared” in a program, as there is only one console, or one log file, and a whole program that needs to write to it with no strict ordering, as writing to a log does not alter the state of the object. A socket, on the other hand, is not so keen: Since it “talks back,” it means that there is another end of the socket expecting us to send data according to some protocol. Having an implicitly-shared socket makes enforcing a protocol difficult. “Sharing” of a socket around a program can still be done via socket& , though.

Enforcing limited usage of “moved-from” objects is still a tricky subject, but may be the domain of contracts and control-flow analysis.