Mastering Smart Pointers - shared_ptr & weak_ptr

Master modern C++ memory management & build leak‑free, exception‑safe, production code

What you'll learn
- Diagnose and eliminate memory leaks, dangling references, and ownership cycles in real projects
- Refactor legacy raw-pointer code to robust, maintainable smart‑pointer architectures
- Apply smart pointers to thread-safe designs, RAII patterns, and exception‑safe code
- Design APIs that communicate ownership clearly and avoid hidden copies
- Pass, return, and store shared_ptr in APIs and STL containers with correct value/reference semantics

Requirements
- Comfortable reading and writing basic C++
- Familiar with C++11 syntax features like auto, range‑for, move semantics at a high level; deep expertise is not required

Description
This course is a practical deep dive into modern C++ memory management through the lens of std::shared_ptr, designed to replace guesswork with clear mental models and repeatable patterns. Starting from basic usage, then copying, moving, resetting, and integrating shared_ptr into function arguments and return types—it builds toward fluency with containers, polymorphism, and multithreading so lifetimes remain correct even as designs grow more complex.

Along the way, lessons confront real bugs head‑on: uninitialized and dangling pointers, memory leaks, and subtle ownership mistakes that typically hide in large codebases. Then the course opens the hood to show how shared_ptr actually works: reference counts, control blocks, weak count, so behavior becomes predictable rather than mysterious. You’ll apply custom deleters to manage non‑memory resources cleanly — file pointers, file handles, dynamic linked library handles, and descriptors—so RAII consistently extends beyond heap objects.

Because performance and debuggability matter in production, the curriculum contrasts make_shared with direct new, explains allocation and layout implications, and highlights differences observed across MSVC, GCC, and Clang. Ownership patterns are the capstone: when and how to use shared ownership, where weak_ptr fits, how to model temporary borrowing safely, and how to break cycles in graphs, observers, and caches. The end result is confidence: the ability to read, design, and refactor code that is leak‑free, exception‑safe, and maintainable—backed by small, runnable examples that make each concept stick.

Who this course is for:
- Motivated beginners who know the C++ basics and for intermediates looking to master smart pointers.
- No prior experience with smart pointers, allocators, or advanced RAII patterns is required
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