An easy way to detect construction, destruction, copy and assignment

#ifndef NOISY_H
#define NOISY_H

#include <iostream>

// Noisy class that reports when it is being created, copied, 
// assigned or destroyed.
//
// Copyright (c) 2005 by Curtis Krauskopf
//                       >http://www.decompile.com
// Permission to use, copy, modify, distribute and sell this 
//   software for any purpose is hereby granted without fee, 
//    provided that the above copyright notice appears in all 
//    copies of this file and in all modified versions of this
//    file.
// The author makes no representations about the suitability 
/     of this software for any purpose. It is provided "as is" 
//    without express or implied warranty.
// Created:  March 26, 2005 by Curtis Krauskopf (cdk)
//                             >http://www.decompile.com
//
//
// Noisy is debugging tool.  When added to a class or struct, 
// it reports when the data elements of the class or struct 
// are automatically being created, copied, assigned or 
// destroyed.  This is a non-intrusive way of being able to 
// detect those situations.  In the below example, a Payload 
// struct contains a std::string.
//
// This technique is designed to detect automatic copying and 
// assignment.
//
// This technique fails when the struct or class defines its 
// own copy constructor or assignment operator unless that 
// copy constructor or assignment operator also copy or assign 
// the Noisy member.
//
// Example:
//
//    struct Payload {
//      std::string name;
//      Noisy x;   // the Noisy variable name doesn't matter.
//    };
//
//    ...
//    {
//      Payload p1;        // emits "Noisy c'tor"
//      Payload p2 = p1;   // emits "Noisy copy"
//    }                    // emits "Noisy destructor" twice

class Noisy {
public:
  Noisy() { std::cout << "Noisy c'tor" << std::endl; }
  Noisy(const Noisy &)
  {
    std::cout << "Noisy copy" << std::endl;
    // Nothing to copy
  }
  ~Noisy() { std::cout << "Noisy destructor" << std::endl; }
  Noisy & operator=(const Noisy &rhs)
  {
    std::cout << "Noisy =" << std::endl;
    if (this != &rhs) {
      // Nothing to do
    }
    return *this;
  }
};

#endif

Example Output:
Noisy c'tor
Noisy copy
Noisy destructor
Noisy destructor

•  become more profitable
•  grow their business
•  fix programs that are behaving badly
•  write new programs to solve business problems
• do more with fewer resources

Email them at to find out how to make your company more successful.