Avoiding iterator invalidation using indices, maintaining clean interface

Question

I have created a MemoryManager class which is basically a wrapper around two vectors of pointers that manage lifetime of heap-allocated objects.

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Answer 1

You could avoid moving elements of the container by maintaining a free-list (see http://www.memorymanagement.org/glossary/f.html#free.list).

To avoid invalidation of references to elements you can use a std::deque if you do not insert or erase in the middle. To avoid invalidation of iterators you can use a std::list.

(Thanks Howard Hinnant)