I'm trying to expand my sons interest from Warcraft 3 programming into C++ to broaden his horizons to a degree. We are planning on porting a little game that he wrote.

The context goes something like this.

• There are Ships and Missiles, for which Ships will use Missiles and interact with them
• A Container exists which will hold 'a list' of ships.
• A Container exists which will hold 'a list' of planets.
• One can apply a function over all elements in the Container (for_each)
• Ships and Missles can be created/destroyed at any time
• New objects automatically insert themselves into the proper container.

I cobbled a small example together to do that job, so we can talk about topics (list, templates etc) but I am not pleased with the results.

#include <iostream>
#include <list>

using namespace std;

/* Base class to hold static list in common with various object groups */ 
template<class T>
class ObjectManager
{
    public :

        ObjectManager
        (
            void
        )
        {
            cout << "Construct ObjectManager at " << this << endl;

            objectList.push_back(this);
        }

        virtual ~ObjectManager
        (
            void
        )
        {
            cout << "Destroy ObjectManager at " << this << endl;
        }

        void for_each
        (
            void (*function)(T *)
        )
        {
            for (objectListIter = objectList.begin(); 
                 objectListIter != objectList.end(); 
                 ++objectListIter)
            {
                (*function)((T *) *objectListIter);
            }
        }

               list<ObjectManager<T> *>::iterator objectListIter;
        static list<ObjectManager<T> *>           objectList;
};

/* initializer for static list */ 
template<class T>
list<ObjectManager<T> *> ObjectManager<T>::objectList;


/* A simple ship for testing */ 
class Ship : public ObjectManager<Ship>
{
    public :

        Ship
        (
            void

        ) : ObjectManager<Ship>()
        {
            cout << "Construct Ship at " << this << endl;
        }

        ~Ship
        (
            void
        )
        {
            cout << "Destroy Ship at " << this << endl;
        }

        friend ostream &operator<<
        (
            ostream    &out,
            const Ship &that
        )
        {
            out << "I am a ship";

            return out;
        }
};


/* A simple missile for testing */ 
class Missile : public ObjectManager<Missile>
{
    public :

        Missile
        (
            void

        ) : ObjectManager<Missile>()
        {
            cout << "Construct Missile at " << this << endl;
        }

        ~Missile
        (
            void
        )
        {
            cout << "Destroy Missile at " << this << endl;
        }

        friend ostream &operator<<
        (
            ostream &out,
            const Missile &that
        )
        {
            out << "I am a missile";

            return out;
        }
};

/* A function suitable for the for_each function */ 
template <class T>
void show
(
    T *it
)
{
    cout << "Show: " << *it << " at " << it << endl;
}


int main
(
    void 
)
{
    /* Create dummy planets for testing */ 
    Missile p1;
    Missile p2;

    /* Demonstrate Iterator */ 
    p1.for_each(show);

    /* Create dummy ships for testing */ 
    Ship s1;
    Ship s2;
    Ship s3;

    /* Demonstrate Iterator */ 
    s1.for_each(show);

    return 0;
}

Specifically, The list is effectively embedded in each ship though the inheritance mechanism. One must have a ship, in order to access the list of ships. One must have a missile in order to be able to access the list of missiles. That feels awkward.

My question boils down to "Is there a better way to do this?"

1. Automatic object container creation
2. Automatic object insertion
3. Container access without requiring an object in the list to access it.

I am looking for better ideas. All helpful entries get an upvote.

Thanks

Evil.