C++ guarantee and name for POD-like data, memcpy capable

Question

In another question I incorrectly used the term POD to refer to data types that aren\'t actually POD types (on account of having a constructor). Now, I\'ve looked through th

Answer 1

In C++0x, the concept of PODness is broken out into several individually useful categories:

A trivially copyable class is a class that (draft 3242, section [class]):

• has no non-trivial copy constructors (12.8),
• has no non-trivial move constructors (12.8),
• has no non-trivial copy assignment operators (13.5.3, 12.8),
• has no non-trivial move assignment operators (13.5.3, 12.8), and
• has a trivial destructor (12.4).

A trivial class is a class that has a trivial default constructor (12.1) and is trivially copyable.

[ Note: In particular, a trivially copyable or trivial class does not have virtual functions or virtual base classes. — end note ]

A standard-layout class is a class that:

• has no non-static data members of type non-standard-layout class (or array of such types) or reference,
• has no virtual functions (10.3) and no virtual base classes (10.1),
• has the same access control (Clause 11) for all non-static data members,
• has no non-standard-layout base classes,
• either has no non-static data members in the most derived class and at most one base class with non-static data members, or has no base classes with non-static data members, and
• has no base classes of the same type as the first non-static data member.

The requirements for trivial constructors, assignment operators, and destructor are scattered throughout section 12 "Special Member Functions" [special].