The copy constructor is used to initialize the new object with the previously created object of the same class. By default compiler wrote a shallow copy. Shallow copy works fine when dynamic memory allocation is not involved because when dynamic memory allocation is involved then both objects will points towards the same memory location in a heap, Therefore to remove this problem we wrote deep copy so both objects have their own copy of attributes in a memory. In order to read the details with complete examples and explanations you could see the article C++ constructors.

尤其是iOS开发者:

如果B是a的浅拷贝，那么对于原语数据，它就像B = [a assign];对于对象，B = [A retain];

B和A指向同一个内存位置

如果B是a的深层副本，则B = [a copy];

B和A指向不同的内存位置

B的内存地址与A的相同

B和A的含量相同

{想象两个对象:相同类型_t的A和B(相对于c++)，你正在考虑将A浅/深复制到B}

浅拷贝: 简单地将a的引用复制到b中，把它看作是a的地址的副本。 因此，A和B的地址将是相同的，即它们将指向相同的内存位置，即数据内容。

Deep copy: Simply makes a copy of all the members of A, allocates memory in a different location for B and then assigns the copied members to B to achieve deep copy. In this way, if A becomes non-existant B is still valid in the memory. The correct term to use would be cloning, where you know that they both are totally the same, but yet different (i.e. stored as two different entities in the memory space). You can also provide your clone wrapper where you can decide via inclusion/exclusion list which properties to select during deep copy. This is quite a common practice when you create APIs.

只有当你了解其中的利害关系时，你才可以选择做浅拷贝。当你在c++或C中有大量的指针要处理时，做一个对象的浅拷贝真的是一个坏主意。

EXAMPLE_OF_DEEP COPY_ An example is, when you are trying to do image processing and object recognition you need to mask "Irrelevant and Repetitive Motion" out of your processing areas. If you are using image pointers, then you might have the specification to save those mask images. NOW... if you do a shallow copy of the image, when the pointer references are KILLED from the stack, you lost the reference and its copy i.e. there will be a runtime error of access violation at some point. In this case, what you need is a deep copy of your image by CLONING it. In this way you can retrieve the masks in case you need them in the future.

EXAMPLE_OF_SHALLOW_COPY I am not extremely knowledgeable compared to the users in StackOverflow so feel free to delete this part and put a good example if you can clarify. But I really think it is not a good idea to do shallow copy if you know that your program is gonna run for an infinite period of time i.e. continuous "push-pop" operation over the stack with function calls. If you are demonstrating something to an amateur or novice person (e.g. C/C++ tutorial stuff) then it is probably okay. But if you are running an application such as surveillance and detection system, or Sonar Tracking System, you are not supposed to keep shallow copying your objects around because it will kill your program sooner or later.

char * Source = "Hello, world.";

char * ShallowCopy = Source;    

char * DeepCopy = new char(strlen(Source)+1);
strcpy(DeepCopy,Source);        

“ShallowCopy”指向与“Source”相同的内存位置。 “DeepCopy”指向内存中的不同位置，但内容是相同的。

为了便于理解，你可以参考这篇文章: https://www.cs.utexas.edu/~scottm/cs307/handouts/deepCopying.htm

浅拷贝:

深拷贝:

除了上述所有定义之外，还有一个最常用的深度复制，位于类的复制构造函数(或重载赋值操作符)中。

浅复制——>是当你没有提供复制构造函数时。在这里，只复制对象，但不复制类的所有成员。

深度复制——>是当您决定在类中实现复制构造函数或重载赋值，并允许复制类的所有成员时。

MyClass& MyClass(const MyClass& obj) // copy constructor for MyClass
{
          // write your code, to copy all the members and return the new object
}
MyClass& operator=(const MyClass& obj) // overloading assignment operator,
{
          // write your code, to copy all the members and return the new object
}