Do I need to delete dynamic memory before leaving a function

Ok, I'm pretty sure that I'll get my head bitten of for this but if you are going to, please at least point me to a webpage that explains it.

I am using Point Cloud Library to manipulate point clouds (just to give the context). From my main I call a function and withing that function I use

Code:

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pcl::PointCloud<pcl::PointXYZRGB>::Ptr cloudIn(new pcl::PointCloud<pcl::PointXYZRGB>());

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It is essentially a class that acts as a pointer and the constructor needs the regular class as its argument. My question is this: do I need to delete the new pcl::PointCloud<pcl::PointXYZRGB> object before I leave the function or will it delete this by itself? I can run it just fine without doing so but I'm not sure if this causes memory leaks (I've encountered a lot of articles about this on the internet)

If you're sure that the library won't require the abject later on, deleting it is fine.
You could also use smart pointers...which will automatically destroy it when not needed.

I just found out experimentally that if I try to delete it just before I leave the function, I get a segmentation fault. This fault happens after the last line of the function and before the first line the main after calling the function. It seems that I cannot delete it without problems but that would seem to contradict what i have read about dynamically allocated memory and deleting.

@manasij7479 What is a smart pointer? How would you implement one?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by njitram2000

I just found out experimentally that if I try to delete it just before I leave the function, I get a segmentation fault. This fault happens after the last line of the function and before the first line the main after calling the function. It seems that I cannot delete it without problems but that would seem to contradict what i have read about dynamically allocated memory and deleting.

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That just means that it is needed afterwards.

Quote:

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@manasij7479 What is a smart pointer? How would you implement one?

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I've never implemented one...but a popular way is using reference counting.(Google the term)
But unless you're sure that you can do better, stick with the ones provided by the C++ standard.
Smart pointer - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

pcl::PointCloud<pcl::PointXYZRGB>::Ptr is a typedef for boost::shared_ptr<pcl::PointCloud<pcl::PointXYZRGB > >. It already is a smart pointer, which means you needn't and must not try to delete it yourself. The object will be automatically deallocated when the (last) shared_ptr to this resource goes out of scope.

Consult the manual: http://docs.pointclouds.org/trunk/classpcl_1_1_point_cloud.html

Always when you pass a raw pointer to some function or object, consult the manual! It should say if you need to delete it or not.
(If it doesn't, then complain about the documentation being poor.)

@anon & Elysia - Thank you, that explains everything. I looked through the PCL manual but not the Boost one (seemed a bit too daunting :D)
I did that now and I'll remember that tip for in the future.

All you need to know is that if it it is dynamically allocated then it needs to be deleted by something, somewhere, at some point during the program execution.

Whether it is your code that does that or if it's part of what the library you're using does for you, is up to you to find out.