Returning pointers or references from functions C++

Question

When you want to return an instance from a method, do you create the object and send a pointer back, or a reference back? Whats the correct method and the method signature for this?

Answer 1

There are a lot of ways to do this in C++. Unfortunately most of them result in confusion on who is responsible for allocating and deallocating the object. There are two methods that I recommend:

// Return a real object, automatic stack allocation.
Foo GetFoo1()
{
   Foo f;
   // Init f.
   return f;
}

// Use a smart, reference counted pointer that handles deallocation itself.
boost::shared_ptr<Foo> GetFoo2()
{
   boost::shared_ptr<Foo> f(new Foo);
   // Init f
   return f;
}

Answer 2

The answer depends on what exactly you are doing and who is responsible for deallocating.

First method: allocate on the heap and return. Who ever called the function will be responsible for deleting the returned pointer.

SomeObject* constructObject ()
{
   SomeObject* obj = new SomeObject ();
   return obj;
}

Then in some other function

void functionThatNeedsObject ()
{
   SomeObject* obj = constructObject ();
   //You must delete obj when done
}

Second method: Return a reference. You must be careful not to go out of scope by returning local or temporary variables.

Dont do this:

int& DoubleValue(int nX)
{
   int nValue = nX * 2;
   return nValue; // return a reference to nValue here
} // nValue goes out of scope here

You can return references to member variables or variables passed as arguments to the function.

SomeStruct& RefFunction(SomeStruct& nX, SomeStruct& nY)
{
    return nX;
} //nX is still in scope because it was passed to us

Answer 3

Either return by value (people incorrectly assume that this is slow) or, if you're returning an override of a polymorphic type, return an auto_ptr (or better a unique_ptr in C++0x).

The reason you do NOT use a shared_ptr is that you can never get your pointer out of it and use a different ownership semantic.

Never return a reference to a local instance.

Answer 4

If I'm creating an instance purely to return, I would return by value as first preference.

Only if the object type was not practically copyable would I consider returning via a smart pointer encapsulating the transfer of ownership.

Returning a reference I reserve for returning a reference to an object whose ownership isn't being transferred out of the function, that is it is already owned by something else and it's existence is guaranteed until a defined time after the function returns.