Thoughts on creating a tracking pointer class, part 6: Non-modifying trackers

Let’s add non-modifying trackers to our tracking pointers implementation. That is, a tracking pointer that gives you only read-only access to the tracked object.

The idea is that tracking pointers and non-modifying tracking pointers all share the same circular doubly linked list. The only difference is what kind of pointer comes out of get.

First, we’ll introduce a nickname MT meaning “mutable (non-const) version of T” and have tracking_ptr use it instead of T, with the exception of the get() method, which returns the (possibly-const) original type T. (Actually, we may as well also remove volatility while we’re at it. Completing volatility support will be left as a pointless exercise.)

template<typename T>
struct tracking_ptr : private tracking_node
{
private:                           
    using MT = std::remove_cv_t<T>;
                                   
public:                            

    T* get() const { return tracked; }

    ⟦ ... other public members as before ... ⟧

private:
    friend struct trackable_object<MT>;

    static tracking_node& trackers(MT* p) noexcept {
        return p->trackable_object<MT>::m_trackers;
    }

    tracking_ptr(MT* p) noexcept :
        tracking_node(as_join{}, trackers(p)),
        tracked(p) {
    }

    ⟦ ... ⟧

    MT* tracked;
};

Next, we add a ctrack() method to the trackable_object to produce a non-modifying tracking pointer.

template<typename T>
struct trackable_object
{
    ⟦ ... ⟧

    tracking_ptr<T> track() noexcept {
        return { owner() };
    }

    tracking_ptr<const T> ctrack() noexcept {
        return { owner() };                  
    }                                        

private:
    friend struct tracking_ptr<T>;
    friend struct tracking_ptr<const T>;

    ⟦ ... ⟧
};

Okay, now we can have an object give away a non-modifying tracking pointer to itself by using ctrack() instead of track().

But wait, this code is wrong.

We’ll continue our investigation next time.

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