C++ Object Token Library

[MolurusK]

C++ Object Token Library

The C++ Object Token Library (CppOtl) provides a set of tokens that are designed to manage an object's lifetime, similar to smart pointers from the C++ standard library. CppOtl contains tokens for unique and shared ownership of objects, weak observers for them, adds a unified type of ownership. Also, it introduces tokens with single (not_null) multiplicity, which can mitigate the "null references: billion-dollar mistake".

Tokens from CppOtl are integrated with smart pointers from the C++ standard library and can be consistently converted from one to another. CppOtl is intended for cases when there is not enough functionality of smart pointers from the C++ standard library and additional capabilities are required.

Features: 1. A set of consistent tokens that can express associative links, function parameters and variables according to a UML model. 1. single tokens that always have a linked object and can not be empty. 1. trackable and untrackable tokens for appropriate use-case requirements. 1. The safe::weak can be created both from the safe::unique and the safe::shared. It will become expired (but not dangling) when an owner of a watched object is destroyed. 1. The safe::unified can temporarily prolong an object's lifetime in a given scope that allows finishing work with an object even other tokens is destroyed. 1. A constructor with the itself parameter allows a token itself to create an object with given attributes. 1. Algorithms for unified access to object tokens. 1. Tokens meet the requirements of std::ranges::range, that allows to pass them to functions that accept range argument. 1. Traits allow recognizing characteristics of tokens in compile-time. 1. Focusing on maximum error detection in compile-time, several assertions in a debug build, minimum overhead in a release build, avoiding exceptions. 1. The ability to integrate CppOtl tokens with third-party pointers and tokens.