This is Guideline how to chose between Owning Pointer (OP) and 'const &' coding styles. Use this document to decide on type of class data member / function arguments.
Current official style/usage of 'OP' and 'const &' styles:
- Use OPs where objects passed into a different object which will retain partial ownership
- Use references (&) where objects are passed and going to be modified
- Use const references where objects are passed and not going to be modified
To decide which data type is appropriate for you function/class consider following questions:
- Class:
- Will instance of you class own this data? i.e: is data life spawn exactly as a life spawn of class instance itself? In later case you probably do not need OP for you data member.
- Does you class holding 'someone else data', i.e. 'referencing' it? If this so, then it is likely that appropriate type for you data is OP.
