Question

This is a follow up question from
Safe in C# not in C++, simple return of pointer / reference,

Is this:

person* NewPerson(void)
{
  person p;
  /* ... */
  return &p; //return pointer to person.
}

the same as?

person* NewPerson(void)
{
  person* pp = new person;

  return pp; //return pointer to person.
}

I know that the first one is a bad idea, because it will be a wild pointer.
In the second case, will the object be safe on the heap – and like in c#
go out of scope when the last reference is gone to it?

Answer 1

It’s safe, the object will still be alive after the return.

But don’t expect the object to be automatically cleaned up for you in C++. Standard C++ does not have garbage collection. You’ll need to delete the object yourself, or use some form of smart pointer.