[Boost-users] shared_ptr vs ordinary pointers

With an ordinary C++ pointer, if I have a BaseClass and a DerivedClass derived from BaseClass, then I can do BaseClass* objectPtr; objectPtr = new DerivedClass(); Later, if BaseClass has a virtual destructor, I can call delete(objectPtr) and the DerivedClass destructor will be called. Now, does this work with shared_ptr? shared_ptr<BaseClass> objectPtr; objectPtr = shared_ptr<DerivedClass>(new DerivedClass()); and later, delete(objectPtr). Does any of the magic going on behind the scenes prevent shared_ptrs from being used like this? Merrill