Do Smart Pointers Really Impact Performance in C ?

Performance Impact of Smart Pointers vs. Normal Pointers in C

Smart pointers, such as std::shared_ptr and std::unique_ptr, are designed to simplify memory management and prevent memory leaks. However, concerns arise about potential performance overhead when using smart pointers compared to traditional pointers.

Memory Overhead

• std::unique_ptr only incurs memory overhead if a non-trivial deleter is provided.
• std::shared_ptr consistently introduces memory overhead, albeit small, for its reference counter.

Time Overhead

• std::unique_ptr experiences time overhead during construction (when copying the deleter or initializing the pointer) and destruction (when destroying the owned object).
• std::shared_ptr involves time overhead during construction (reference counter creation), destruction (reference counter decrement), and assignment (reference counter increment). Due to thread safety, these operations are atomic, further increasing overhead.

Impact on Performance

It's important to note that none of the discussed smart pointers introduces overhead during dereferencing (retrieving the owned object), which is a common operation for pointers.

Overall, while smart pointers introduce some overhead, it's minimal and unlikely to significantly hinder performance unless smart pointers are constantly created and destroyed. Therefore, the benefits of improved memory management provided by smart pointers outweigh the minor overhead concerns.

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