Question

When I use the delete keyword on an object is that objects destructor executed? What if the objected I deleted contains other pointers and I don’t delete them, is that a memory leak?

I get a confused a bit sometimes over when to use delete. The problem is worst for me when I pass things around. I don’t know when it’s safe to use delete for fear of eliminating an object that is being pointed to from somewhere else.

Answer 1

When I use the delete keyword on an object is that objects destructor executed?

Yes. That’s what the destructor is for.

What if the objected I deleted contains other pointers and I don’t delete them, is that a memory leak?

Yes. This is one of the most common sources of memory leaks.

I don’t know when it’s safe to use delete for fear of eliminating an object that is being pointed to from somewhere else.

This is a hard problem. There is no system that solves it perfectly, but you can get pretty far by using reference-counted smart pointers, and by reducing the number of objects that are shared.