Are pointers inherited

Answer 1

All elements of a class are inherited, including pointers. This includes methods such as constructors and destructors that manipulate the pointers. However, the question seems related to copying, instead of to inheritance... If you do not provide a copy constructor, the compiler will provide one, but that code will only copy the pointers - unless the pointers are some kind of smart pointer class, it will not copy the objects to which they point. This results in two pointers referring to one object. The danger is in what happens when one pointer is deleted, or in what happens when one pointer's object is modified. You have to decide how to handle mutability and ownership, the latter including who gets to execute the destructor or delete sequence for the pointer? One solution is reference pointers using smart pointer technology. The pointer/object itself has a reference count which is incremented each time an address of the object is taken, such as in copying a pointer. The reference count is decremented each time a pointer is deleted and, when it reaches zero, the object itself is deleted. You can also decide if executing a mutating operation results in a second copy of the object being made, or if you can tolerate having another pointer refer to an object that has changed. These techniques can balance cost of operation against protection against memory corruption, but they do come with their own cost for design, implementation, and testing.