wrap std::weak_ptr in ofPtrWeak

[yoiang]

No description provided.

[kylemcdonald]

thanks for the contribution :) can you provide any examples of places where ofPtrWeak would be helpful? we generally don't add features unless there is a corresponding example showing the strength of the feature, or a problem with the current core that is elegantly resolved by adding that feature.

[tgfrerer]

i think that could be super useful (for whenever you reference a smart pointed object by an object that doesn't own it). But i'd fear adding an openFrameworks specific wrapper would add a level of complexity that we might regret when transitioning the core to c++11 sometime in the future...

Don't get me wrong -- weak pointers are fantastic and super useful!

I believe ofPtr was introduced to have a standardised way to use smart pointers whilst common cpp compilers are catching up with c++11. Now that c++11 is (almost) available everywhere, it will in the near or distant future make sense to use these c++11 standard smart pointers.

it's less the general ofPtrWeak use cases that I'm concerned with, it's more that when such pointers need to be dynamic_cast'ed &c, it can get really messy across compilers and OS'es and c++ versions when writing a future-proof wrapper...

i'm saying this, because i still totally curse myself for the pain i might have introduced when suggesting dynamic_cast to ofPtr<> and i've been doing hours of community service ever since, trying to make up for it =)

maybe this could be a lead-in to a more general debate on the pathway to embracing c++11 in a future oF version?

[yoiang]

tgfrerer beat me to it, we use them extensively here for any non-ownership references, ie: parent-child relationships, async callbacks, etc (see https://github.com/lumoslabs/ofxGeneric).

Personally as an outsider (so take it with a grain of salt ;) in the interrum before openFrameworks switches over to C++11 and directly uses shared_ptrs and weak_ptrs I think it'd be a valuable resource to have. Granted should this switch happen we've got a lot of work to do here!

[bakercp]

I would suggest that given the roadmap, we should avoid adding a wrapper to this and encourage developers to use std::weak_ptr directly. It is brought in via tr1 along w/ std::shared_ptr in the case of os x. Perhaps that is also true with other platforms?

[arturoc]

yes we should deprecate ofPtr and use std::shared_ptr as soon as we have support for c++11 in the core

[yoiang]

If C++11 is in the works that sounds great! Thanks guys!

[arturoc]

closing this since ofPtr is deprecated now