Development Blog

Lua copies objects by reference.

In C++ you might do it like this:

class Thing
{
    weak_ptr<Entity> target;
};

void UpdateMe() {
    shared_ptr<Entity> the_target = this->target.lock() //creates a shared pointer which prevents object from being deleted during this function
    if (the_target != nullptr)
    {
        //do some stuff
    }
}// shared pointer goes out of scope, object can once again be deleted

 

Here's an idea:

I will probably have to make a pre-processor anyways to handle comparison of derived objects with base objects. You can read this discussion on Github if you want.

What if the pre-processor also looks for code like this:

model:Reset()

and replaces it with this:

__RESET_SMART_POINTER__(model) model = nil

Of course this does not solve the problem described previously, but it does allow you to instantly set a smart pointer to null.

That's interesting. Wasn't aware you have to create a pre-processor. That could for sure work then. I'd use something like Destroy() or Delete() though as Reset() makes it seem like it'll go back to the values it had on map load (which might be a cool side feature to have actually).

Eh, you still have this problem:

local a = CreateBox()
local b = a
Reset(a) --converts to: "__RESET_SMART_POINTER__(a) a = nil"
b:SetPosition(0,0,0) --zombie object, not alive yet not dead