Let me refine this. Upon reflection, I realized what I said is only accurate regarding fundamental types. Objects are the other way around. I have to tell them to go away explicitly, or they just sit there and take space. And if I don't to that before I remove the last pointer to the object, then I have not way to access the destructor. When a variable goes out of scope, a destructor is called. I suggest that when you are learning C++, start by writing your own classes. Then, once you understand the language, then start using the STL and other class libraries. The STL has a large number of container types, such as vector, link lists, trees et. al. But, while these are great to use, the details of the implementation are hidden. That's not a bad thing, but when you are learning a language you are not learning some of the finer points of that language. For instance, a person who does not know Java can pick up JBuilder and build some programs, but not lean how to write Java code. In C++, you should first lean the basics of
On Mon, 31 Mar 2003 10:48:43 -0500
"Steven T. Hatton"