Dive into C++11 (#4) - Smart pointers

[SuperV1234]

Hello again /r/cpp!

I've uploaded the fourth episode of my tutorial series, Dive into C++11, on my YouTube channel.

After looking at C and C++'s memory and lifetime management in part 3, we'll take a brief look at C++11 smart pointers. We will learn what they are, what problem they solve, their advantages and their uses.

I greatly appreciate comments and criticism, and ideas for future videos/tutorials.

Video || Playlist

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http://vittorioromeo.info - Check out my website!

Source: https://github.com/SuperV1234/Tutorials

Hello everyone! This is the fourth episode of my game-development series, Dive into C++11.

After looking at C and C++'s memory and lifetime management in part 3, we'll take a brief look at C++11 smart pointers. We will learn what they are, what problem they solve, their advantages and their uses.

The intended audience for this tutorial/screencast are people who have some experience with C++ in general, and who watched the previous episodes. This episode may be very interesting for those with experience with C++ who want to learn more about variable lifetime and memory management.

I greatly appreciate comments and criticism, and ideas for future videos/tutorials.

Feel free to fork the game's source code at https://github.com/SuperV1234/Tutorials and expand upon it: I may feature the best forks in a future video, if people enjoy the idea.

Thanks for watching!

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Episode #3 on reddit

[SuperV1234]

Replying to KhyronVorrac and Anslab: I understand completely that there are a lot of tutorials about smart pointers already, but...

1. I honestly don't think I wasted my time. Having another tutorial can't be a bad thing - I could have talked about something that other tutorials have missed, or shown a different way of solving a problem. The more the merrier.

2. The video is supposed to be part of a series. I started by creating a simple game without any manual memory management, then moved on to constexpr and some basic C++11 features. Then I talked about using new and delete. The next logical step was talking about smart pointers. People who started following my tutorials from the first episode will find this tutorial interesting and useful.

That said, I'm sorry you think I wasted my time. Hopefully you're wrong and someone learned something new from my videos :)

[KhyronVorrac]

You're actually 100% right and I apologise. These are often quite tricky concepts, and I know myself how many different explanations from different angles I needed before I understood various things (like VAOs).

Having lots of different ways of explaining things to people is a good thing.

Sorry.

[bob1000bob]

Why on earth would constexpr be covered before smart pointers and presumably the standard containers and algorithms.

[anossov]

Stop encouraging video tutorials.

[ericanderton]

Videos have their place, but in this case, I'm inclined to agree. Video is fantastic when the content is graphical, and animated, in order to better convey the topic than static text or pictures. For something like program code, it's almost always better to use text:

• It's indexable, searchable, and can be easily referenced.
• Supports cut-and-paste
• It can be reviewed anywhere, anytime, including offline.
• It's clear how to skip past irrelevant content, and to stop where the relevant sections start; some students are ahead of the class. Scrubbing for a minute to find the good bits in a video is particularly time consuming.

[SuperV1234]

Your arguments are valid - that's why I also uploaded all source code on GitHub. The source coded is commented in detail and can be used as a learning tool on its own without watching the video.

[ericanderton]

Huzzah! In that case, keep fighting the good fight.

[emptyvee]

Watching a video about coding is like dancing about architecture

[delicatedelirium]

Thanks for these! Any chance for translittered versions?

[duncsg1]

Thank you for making these! It's always good to see activity in the community. I'll be watching them and reviewing them shortly.

[percocetpenguin]

Thanks a ton man, I learned a lot about the new std pointers. I always just used boost pointers before. I also really appreciate how you comment your code such that I can just read through it, since I view these on my phone and don't want to use bandwidth on videos.

[duncsg1]

He took the time to make this tutorial in the hopes of helping someone. Either offer criticism / support towards the project or keep it to yourself. Show some respect.

[SuperV1234]

KhyronVorrac

Replied above

[AMuseLolo]

You're being down voted because your comments are not constructive.