IntroductionBasics 9
Item 1: Distinguish between pointers and references. 9
Item 2: Prefer C＋＋-style casts. 12
Item 3: Never treat arrays polymorphically. 16
Item 4: Avoid gratuitous default constructors. 19
Operators 24
Item 5: Be wary of user-defined conversion functions. 24
Item 6: Distinguish between prefix and postfix forms of increment and decrement operators. 31
Item 7: Never overload ＆＆, ｜ ｜, or ,. 35
Item 8: Understand the different meanings of new and delete. 38
Exceptions 44
Item 9: Use destructors to prevent resource leaks. 45
Item 10: Prevent resource leaks in constructors. 50
Item 11: Prevent exceptions from leaving destructors. 58
Item 12: Understand how throwing an exception differs from passing a parameter or calling a virtual function. 61
Item 13: Catch exceptions by reference. 68
Item 14: Use exception specifications judiciously. 72
Item 15: Understand the costs of exception handling. 78
Efficiency 81
Item 16: Remember the 80-20 rule. 82
Item 17: Consider using lazy evaluation. 85
Item 18: Amortize the cost of expected computations. 93
Item 19: Understand the origin of temporary objects. 98
Item 20: Facilitate the return value optimization. 101
Item 21: Overload to avoid implicit type conversions. 105
Item 22: Consider using op＝ instead of stand-alone op. 107
Item 23: Consider alternative libraries. 110
Item 24: Understand the costs of virtual functions, multiple inheritance, virtual base classes, and RTII. 113
Techniques 123
Item 25: Virtualizing constructors and non-member functions. 123
Item 26: Limiting the number of objects of a class. 130
Item 27: Requiring or prohibiting heap-based objects. 145
Item 28: Smart pointers. 159
Item 29: Reference counting. 183
Item 30: Proxy classes. 213
Item 31: Making functions virtual with respect to more than one object. 228
Miscellany 252
Item 32: Program in the future tense. 252
Item 33: Make non-leaf classes abstract. 258
Item 34: Understand how to combine C＋＋ and C in the same program. 270
Item 35: Familiarize yourself with the language standard. 277
Recommended Reading 285
An auto_ptr Implementation 291
General Index 295
Index of Example Classes, Functions, and Templates 313