In article 27885@minster.york.ac.uk, mhw@minster.york.ac.uk writes:
>A while back I saw mention of a reference counting pointer class which
>was being proposed as a part of the standard C++ library.  Now the public
>review draft is out, I see that there's an auto-deleting pointer
>(auto_ptr<>, section 20.4.5) which deletes an object when it itself is
>destroyed, but no sign of a complementary reference counting class.
>
>Did the original reference counting proposal get as far as the committee?
>If so, what became of it? If not, is there any reason why such a class
>could not be added?

The reference-counting standard class was debated and modified over the
course of three meetings. The majority of the committee felt that the
class was not appropriate for the standard, since it tended to require
too much of the user of the class, and did not provide enough utility in
exchange. The auto-pointer class, on the other hand, is both unintrusive
and useful.

---
Steve Clamage, stephen.clamage@eng.sun.com

A while back I saw mention of a reference counting pointer class which
was being proposed as a part of the standard C++ library.  Now the public
review draft is out, I see that there's an auto-deleting pointer
(auto_ptr<>, section 20.4.5) which deletes an object when it itself is
destroyed, but no sign of a complementary reference counting class.

Did the original reference counting proposal get as far as the committee?
If so, what became of it? If not, is there any reason why such a class
could not be added?

-Mark.

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Mark H. Wilkinson <mhw@minster.york.ac.uk>  : Research student in user
University of York, England                 : interface management systems