The PImpl idiom and the C++26 std::indirect type

PImpl (which stands for Pointer to implementation) is a programming tehnicque to remove implementation details from a class by placing them in a separate class that is accessed through an opaque pointer. Its purpose is to separate…

From the article

PImpl (which stands for Pointer to implementation) is a programming tehnicque to remove implementation details from a class by placing them in a separate class that is accessed through an opaque pointer. Its purpose is to separate interfaces and implementations and minimize compile-time dependencies. In this article, we’ll at how the PImpl idiom is typically implemented in C++ and how C++26 simplifies its implementation.

We can implement the Pimpl idiom using raw pointers and abiding to the Rule of Five. This is a guideline that says that when a class defines a special member function (for resource management) it should define all five of them (destructor, copy constructor, copy assignment operator, move constructor, move assignment operator).

To demonstrate this, we will use a widget…

Share this resource