jeudi 25 décembre 2014

Memory allocator with custom pointer type

I tried to create a custom memory allocator which uses a smart pointer. I do not post the code because it's too big and doesn't add much of information. Then I tested it with a std::vector. It works perfectly well on Xcode. But when I tried to build the same code in Visual Studio 12 (2013), the build failed with the following error:



...vector(873): error C2660: 'std::_Wrap_alloc< my_allocator< int > >::construct' : function does not take 2 arguments



the problem is in push_back method:



void push_back(value_type&& _Val)
{
....
this->_Getal().construct(this->_Mylast,
_STD forward<value_type>(this->_Myfirst[_Idx]));
....
}


The error message is a bit confusing. Real problem is that this->_Mylast is of type my_allocator< int >::pointer, which is a smart pointer, and construct method expects int*.


So, the question is simple: what are the requirements to pointer types used in a custom memory allocator? Should it be convertible to a raw pointer? If yes, it makes them pretty useless.


Actually I would expect that line of code to look like:



this->_Getal().construct(addressof(*(this->_Mylast)),
_STD forward<value_type>(this->_Myfirst[_Idx]));


Let's try to find an answer in C++ standard, which says:



[17.6.3.5-5] An allocator type X shall satisfy the requirements of CopyConstructible (17.6.3.1). The X::pointer, X::const_pointer, X::void_pointer, and X::const_void_pointer types shall satisfy the requirements of NullablePointer (17.6.3.3). No constructor, comparison operator, copy operation, move operation, or swap operation on these types shall exit via an exception. X::pointer and X::const_pointer shall also satisfy the requirements for a random access iterator (24.2)



If we take a look at NullablePointer reqs, they add few other requirements:



[17.6.3.3] A NullablePointer type is a pointer-like type that supports null values. A type P meets the requirements of NullablePointer if:

(1.1) — P satisfies the requirements of EqualityComparable, DefaultConstructible, CopyConstructible, CopyAssignable, and Destructible...



If I check random access iterator requirements, I also don't find any explicit mentioning of its casting to a raw pointer. But in few places the approach with addressof is used (e. g. 24.2.1-5).


Also, it's not the only place in Microsoft's std::vector implementation where X::pointer and raw pointer are assumed to be equal. I'm wondering, what do I miss?


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