From: Jens Maurer (Jens.Maurer_at_[hidden])
Date: 2001-09-01 03:44:44
David Abrahams wrote:
> Second Issue:
>
> I found the following code in shared_array (and I assume the analogous code
> is in shared_ptr):
>
> void reset(T* p=0)
> {
> if ( px == p ) return; // fix: self-assignment safe
>
> What this does is to make a silent success of resetting a shared_ptr with
> the pointer it owns.
[...]
> I'd rather see an assert() here.
A similar issue has come up with Boost.Thread, where some simple
case of deadlock can be easily detected, but more complicated ones
cannot. I think the resolution was not to detect the simple case
and specify a reaction to it, but instead treat all cases as a
precondition violation (with undefined behaviour).
David's case is similar.
I second David's suggestion above: It's a precondition violation
which should be handled by an assert(), if easy to detect.
Jens Maurer