C++ idiom to avoid memory leaks?

Question

In the following code, there is a memory leak if Info::addPart1() is called multiple times by accident:

typedef struct
{
}part1;

typedef struct
{
}         


        

Answer 1

Bear with me here...

In the distant past, programmers used constructs like "jump" and "goto" for flow control. Eventually common patterns emerged and constructs like for, do/while, function call and try/catch emerged, and the spaghetti was tamed. Those named constructs give a lot more information about intent than a generic goto, where you have to examine the rest of the code for context to understand what it's doing. In the unlikely event you see a goto in modern code by a competent coder, you know something pretty unusual is going on.

In my opinion, "delete" is the "goto" of memory management. There are enough smart pointer and container classes available to the modern developer that there's very little reason for most code to contain a single explicit delete (other than in the smart pointer implementations of course). When you see a plain "delete" you get no information about intent; when you see a scoped_ptr/auto_ptr/shared_ptr/ptr_container you get a lot more.

ie the idiom should be to aspire to write delete-free code by using appropriate smart pointer types (as recommended by just about every other answer here).

Update 2013-01-27: I note Herb Sutter's excellent talk on C++11 includes some similar sentiments re delete free code.