Step 4 of 7

Return by value is free

A common worry is that returning a big object from a function is slow, so people return pointers or fill in "out" parameters instead. In modern C++ that worry is outdated.

• Returning a temporary (return Widget(...);): C++17 guarantees the object is built directly in the caller's variable. No copy and no move happen at all. This is called copy elision.
• Returning a named local (Widget w; ...; return w;): compilers almost always build it directly in place too (the "named return value optimization"). When they can't, the value is moved, not copied.

#include <iostream>
#include <string>

struct Loud {
    std::string tag;
    explicit Loud(std::string t) : tag(t) { std::cout << "construct " << tag << "\n"; }
    Loud(const Loud& o) : tag(o.tag) { std::cout << "COPY " << tag << "\n"; }
};

Loud make_direct() {
    return Loud("direct");           // guaranteed: built right in the caller
}

Loud make_named() {
    Loud l("named");
    l.tag += "!";
    return l;                        // NRVO in practice
}

int main() {
    Loud a = make_direct();
    Loud b = make_named();
    std::cout << a.tag << " " << b.tag << "\n";
    Loud c = a;                      // a real copy, because we asked for one
}

construct direct
construct named
direct named!
COPY direct

Reading the output

• Each function constructs exactly once, and there's no COPY line for a or b: the objects were built directly in main's variables.
• The only copy is Loud c = a;, where copying is exactly what the code asks for, since a is still alive.

What this means for your code

• Return by value. It's the clearest way to write a function that makes something, and it's cheap.
• Don't write return std::move(local);. It prevents copy elision, forcing a move where there would have been nothing at all. Compilers warn about it (-Wpessimizing-move).
• Returning a temporary directly, like return Tracker(id);, is the case the language guarantees.

Your turn: the Tracker struct counts copies. Write Tracker make_tracker(int id) so that creating one via your function performs zero copies. The test prints the copy count.

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