我开始研究c++ 11的智能指针,我没有看到std::weak_ptr有任何有用的用途。有人能告诉我什么时候std::weak_ptr是有用的/必要的吗?


当前回答

我看到了很多有趣的答案,解释引用计数等,但我错过了一个简单的例子,演示如何使用weak_ptr防止内存泄漏。在第一个例子中,我在循环引用的类中使用shared_ptr。当类超出作用域时,它们不会被销毁。

#include<iostream>
#include<memory>
using namespace std;

class B;

class A
{
public:
    shared_ptr<B>bptr;
    A() {
        cout << "A created" << endl;
    }
    ~A() {
        cout << "A destroyed" << endl;
    }
};

class B
{
public:
    shared_ptr<A>aptr;
    B() {
        cout << "B created" << endl;
    }
    ~B() {
        cout << "B destroyed" << endl;
    }
};

int main()
{
    {
        shared_ptr<A> a = make_shared<A>();
        shared_ptr<B> b = make_shared<B>();
        a->bptr = b;
        b->aptr = a;
    }
  // put breakpoint here
}

如果你运行代码片段,你会看到类被创建,但没有被销毁:

A created
B created

现在我们把shared_ptr改成weak_ptr:

class B;
class A
{
public:
    weak_ptr<B>bptr;

    A() {
        cout << "A created" << endl;
    }
    ~A() {
        cout << "A destroyed" << endl;
    }
};

class B
{
public:
    weak_ptr<A>aptr;

    B() {
        cout << "B created" << endl;
    }
    ~B() {
        cout << "B destroyed" << endl;
    }
};

    int main()
    {
        {
            shared_ptr<A> a = make_shared<A>();
            shared_ptr<B> b = make_shared<B>();
            a->bptr = b;
            b->aptr = a;
        }
      // put breakpoint here
    }

这一次,当使用weak_ptr时,我们看到了正确的类破坏:

A created
B created
B destroyed
A destroyed

其他回答

Std::weak_ptr是解决悬浮指针问题的一个很好的方法。通过使用原始指针,不可能知道所引用的数据是否已被释放。相反,通过让std::shared_ptr管理数据,并将std::weak_ptr提供给数据的用户,用户可以通过调用expired()或lock()来检查数据的有效性。

你不能单独用std::shared_ptr这样做,因为所有std::shared_ptr实例共享数据的所有权,这些数据在std::shared_ptr的所有实例被删除之前没有被删除。下面是一个如何使用lock()检查悬浮指针的例子:

#include <iostream>
#include <memory>

int main()
{
    // OLD, problem with dangling pointer
    // PROBLEM: ref will point to undefined data!

    int* ptr = new int(10);
    int* ref = ptr;
    delete ptr;

    // NEW
    // SOLUTION: check expired() or lock() to determine if pointer is valid

    // empty definition
    std::shared_ptr<int> sptr;

    // takes ownership of pointer
    sptr.reset(new int);
    *sptr = 10;

    // get pointer to data without taking ownership
    std::weak_ptr<int> weak1 = sptr;

    // deletes managed object, acquires new pointer
    sptr.reset(new int);
    *sptr = 5;

    // get pointer to new data without taking ownership
    std::weak_ptr<int> weak2 = sptr;

    // weak1 is expired!
    if(auto tmp = weak1.lock())
        std::cout << "weak1 value is " << *tmp << '\n';
    else
        std::cout << "weak1 is expired\n";
    
    // weak2 points to new data (5)
    if(auto tmp = weak2.lock())
        std::cout << "weak2 value is " << *tmp << '\n';
    else
        std::cout << "weak2 is expired\n";
}

输出

weak1 is expired
weak2 value is 5

除了其他已经提到的有效用例,std::weak_ptr在多线程环境中是一个很棒的工具,因为

它不拥有对象,因此不能妨碍在不同线程中删除 Std::shared_ptr与Std::weak_ptr结合在一起对悬空指针是安全的——与Std::unique_ptr与原始指针结合在一起相反 std::weak_ptr::lock()是一个原子操作(参见关于weak_ptr的线程安全)

考虑一个任务,将一个目录(~10.000)的所有图像同时加载到内存中(例如作为缩略图缓存)。显然,做到这一点的最佳方法是一个控制线程(处理和管理图像)和多个工作线程(加载图像)。这是一个简单的任务。这里是一个非常简化的实现(join()等被省略了,线程将不得不在一个真正的实现中被不同地处理等)

// a simplified class to hold the thumbnail and data
struct ImageData {
  std::string path;
  std::unique_ptr<YourFavoriteImageLibData> image;
};

// a simplified reader fn
void read( std::vector<std::shared_ptr<ImageData>> imagesToLoad ) {
   for( auto& imageData : imagesToLoad )
     imageData->image = YourFavoriteImageLib::load( imageData->path );
}

// a simplified manager
class Manager {
   std::vector<std::shared_ptr<ImageData>> m_imageDatas;
   std::vector<std::unique_ptr<std::thread>> m_threads;
public:
   void load( const std::string& folderPath ) {
      std::vector<std::string> imagePaths = readFolder( folderPath );
      m_imageDatas = createImageDatas( imagePaths );
      const unsigned numThreads = std::thread::hardware_concurrency();
      std::vector<std::vector<std::shared_ptr<ImageData>>> splitDatas = 
        splitImageDatas( m_imageDatas, numThreads );
      for( auto& dataRangeToLoad : splitDatas )
        m_threads.push_back( std::make_unique<std::thread>(read, dataRangeToLoad) );
   }
};

但是,如果你想中断图像的加载,例如,因为用户选择了一个不同的目录,它会变得复杂得多。或者即使你想毁掉经理。

在更改m_imageDatas字段之前,您需要线程通信并必须停止所有加载器线程。否则,加载器将继续加载,直到所有图像都完成—即使它们已经过时。在简化的示例中,这不会太难,但在实际环境中,事情可能要复杂得多。

The threads would probably be part of a thread pool used by multiple managers, of which some are being stopped, and some aren't etc. The simple parameter imagesToLoad would be a locked queue, into which those managers push their image requests from different control threads with the readers popping the requests - in an arbitrary order - at the other end. And so the communication becomes difficult, slow and error-prone. A very elegant way to avoid any additional communication in such cases is to use std::shared_ptr in conjunction with std::weak_ptr.

// a simplified reader fn
void read( std::vector<std::weak_ptr<ImageData>> imagesToLoad ) {
   for( auto& imageDataWeak : imagesToLoad ) {
     std::shared_ptr<ImageData> imageData = imageDataWeak.lock();
     if( !imageData )
        continue;
     imageData->image = YourFavoriteImageLib::load( imageData->path );
   }
}

// a simplified manager
class Manager {
   std::vector<std::shared_ptr<ImageData>> m_imageDatas;
   std::vector<std::unique_ptr<std::thread>> m_threads;
public:
   void load( const std::string& folderPath ) {
      std::vector<std::string> imagePaths = readFolder( folderPath );
      m_imageDatas = createImageDatas( imagePaths );
      const unsigned numThreads = std::thread::hardware_concurrency();
      std::vector<std::vector<std::weak_ptr<ImageData>>> splitDatas = 
        splitImageDatasToWeak( m_imageDatas, numThreads );
      for( auto& dataRangeToLoad : splitDatas )
        m_threads.push_back( std::make_unique<std::thread>(read, dataRangeToLoad) );
   }
};

此实现几乎与第一个实现一样简单,不需要任何额外的线程通信,并且可以在实际实现中作为线程池/队列的一部分。由于过期的图像被跳过,而未过期的图像被处理,因此在正常操作期间线程永远不必停止。 你总是可以安全地更改路径或销毁你的管理器,因为读取器fn检查,如果拥有的指针没有过期。

缓存就是一个很好的例子。

对于最近访问的对象,您希望将它们保存在内存中,因此可以保留一个指向它们的强指针。定期扫描缓存,确定最近没有访问哪些对象。你不需要把它们保存在内存中,所以你去掉强指针。

但是,如果该对象正在使用,而其他一些代码持有指向它的强指针,该怎么办?如果缓存删除了指向该对象的唯一指针,就再也找不到它了。因此,缓存保留了一个弱指针,指向它需要找到的对象,如果它们碰巧留在内存中。

这正是弱指针所做的——它允许你在一个对象仍然在附近时定位它,但如果没有其他东西需要它,它就不会保留它。

我看到了很多有趣的答案,解释引用计数等,但我错过了一个简单的例子,演示如何使用weak_ptr防止内存泄漏。在第一个例子中,我在循环引用的类中使用shared_ptr。当类超出作用域时,它们不会被销毁。

#include<iostream>
#include<memory>
using namespace std;

class B;

class A
{
public:
    shared_ptr<B>bptr;
    A() {
        cout << "A created" << endl;
    }
    ~A() {
        cout << "A destroyed" << endl;
    }
};

class B
{
public:
    shared_ptr<A>aptr;
    B() {
        cout << "B created" << endl;
    }
    ~B() {
        cout << "B destroyed" << endl;
    }
};

int main()
{
    {
        shared_ptr<A> a = make_shared<A>();
        shared_ptr<B> b = make_shared<B>();
        a->bptr = b;
        b->aptr = a;
    }
  // put breakpoint here
}

如果你运行代码片段,你会看到类被创建,但没有被销毁:

A created
B created

现在我们把shared_ptr改成weak_ptr:

class B;
class A
{
public:
    weak_ptr<B>bptr;

    A() {
        cout << "A created" << endl;
    }
    ~A() {
        cout << "A destroyed" << endl;
    }
};

class B
{
public:
    weak_ptr<A>aptr;

    B() {
        cout << "B created" << endl;
    }
    ~B() {
        cout << "B destroyed" << endl;
    }
};

    int main()
    {
        {
            shared_ptr<A> a = make_shared<A>();
            shared_ptr<B> b = make_shared<B>();
            a->bptr = b;
            b->aptr = a;
        }
      // put breakpoint here
    }

这一次,当使用weak_ptr时,我们看到了正确的类破坏:

A created
B created
B destroyed
A destroyed

Here's one example, given to me by @jleahy: Suppose you have a collection of tasks, executed asynchronously, and managed by an std::shared_ptr<Task>. You may want to do something with those tasks periodically, so a timer event may traverse a std::vector<std::weak_ptr<Task>> and give the tasks something to do. However, simultaneously a task may have concurrently decided that it is no longer needed and die. The timer can thus check whether the task is still alive by making a shared pointer from the weak pointer and using that shared pointer, provided it isn't null.