C++ distructor question

[TonyM123]

When i create a new socket object, the value in the point to the object is not NULL
if (IncomingSocket == NULL) IncomingSocket = new Socket;
This way I dont have any memory leaks, etc
Now when I need to destroy the socket...
if (IncomingSocket != NULL) delete IncomingSocket;
This way i dont try to delete a NULL object and avoid a memory fault.
The problem is that I must set the point = NULL;
IncomgingSocket=NULL;
This is a pain when I have in a multithreaded app when sycronization can realy ruin my day.
It would be nice if in the destructor, I could set that pointer value to null before returning.
// ------------------------------------------------------------------
Socket::~Socket()
{
if (iSock > -1) closesocket(iSock);

if (szPeerName) delete [] szPeerName;
//*** Somehow set the point = NULL;
}
Anyone know how to do this? Only trick I can think of gets realy nasty with stack calls.
tony

[SpiffGQ]

Why would you need to set the pointer to NULL? Isn't that kind of the point of delete?

[FalcomPSX]

not really t048, the delete keyword deallocates the memory allocated with new. just setting the pointer to NULL leaves the memory allocated. though i'm not sure how to accomplish what wants...

[SpiffGQ]

What would this accomplish?

[Martee]

If you don't set the pointer to NULL, and you attempt to use it again, your program will most likely do strange things, as the memory it points to is no longer guaranteed to be valid. Also, if you try to delete it again without setting it to NULL, your program will most likely die a horrible death. Pointers should almost always be set to NULL after they have been deleted.

TonyM123: Although it's not an elegant solution, you could always take advantage of the preprocessor. Something like:
#define SafeDelete(p) { delete p; p = NULL; }

I don't think there is a good way of doing what you are looking for.