Re: What kind of pattern is this?

From:
Goran <goran.pusic@gmail.com>
Newsgroups:
comp.lang.c++
Date:
Thu, 10 Nov 2011 02:55:42 -0800 (PST)
Message-ID:
<96145a93-ac8b-46e6-9572-09d4ed544f5f@e2g2000vbb.googlegroups.com>
On Nov 9, 8:54 pm, Marcel M=FCller <news.5.ma...@spamgourmet.org> wrote:

I have a class that destroys itself after it has done its job. Something
like a thread, but without a thread.

// Some Object
class MyObject;

// Schedule a task for obj in the Worker Queue.
void ScheduleObject(MyObject* obj);

class RescheduleWorker
{private:
   intrusive_ptr<MyObject> Object;
   vector<intrusive_ptr<MyObject> > Dependencies;
  public:
   RescheduleWorker(MyObject& obj,
     const vector<intrusive_ptr<MyObject> >& dependencies)
   : Object(&obj), Dependencies(dependencies)
   { // register some callbacks in the dependency list
   }
  private:
   ~RescheduleWorker() {}
   // Called by some internal observer functions exactly once
   // when a complex dependency condition is true.
   void OnCompleted()
   { ScheduleObject(Object.get());
     delete this;
   }

};

// usage:
new RescheduleWorker(obj, dependencies);

The latter looks a bit strange, because the pointer returned by new is
immediately discarded. Is this a common pattern? How is it called?


"delete this" is seen in places, and, beside intrusive refcounting, I
am yet to see a reason why it is a good idea. In your case, ownership
of the object is effectively taken by whoever is going to call
OnCompleted. So that somebody can do

p->OnCompleted();
delete p;

or better yet

auto_ptr<ReshceduleWorker>(p)->OnCompleted();

and "delete this" should disappear.

"delete this" is usually a sign of underdesigned heap object
ownership.

Goran.

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