Yes, modern C++ is far safer than the old style or passing pointers all over the place and wondering who was deleting them (not that I ever did that - you could pass const pointers to stop others deleting them anyway; it was only a problem if you didn't obey const-correctness and make certain classes "container" classes).

The addition of move semantics and using references everywhere makes pointers unnecessary for the most part. You can use STL containers for putting your items into so shouldn't see raw "new" or "delete" operations in your own code very much; this is particularly true where you define your own move operators and move constructors.

It's a difficult habit to break though!

See Stroustrup's "The C++ Programming Language Fourth Edition" (the blue book) section 3.3.3 Resource Management and 3.2.1.2 "A Container", where in this early part of the book Stroustrup explicitly directs to 'avoid "naked" new and delete operations" and to "use resource handles and RAII to manage resources".

See std::move to force moving where it isn't clear that you're moving things.

Further reading: http://en.cppreference.com/w/cpp/language/move_operator http://stroustrup.com/C++11FAQ.html#default2