[levzettelin]

  // You are responsible for releasing the structure in the end
  arrow_array.release(&arrow_array);

This doesn't look like RAII. How is this idiomatic for C++20? Why do you have to pass a pointer to "this" again as an explicit argument.

[rfoo]

This is the extracted Arrow C data interfaces as documented in https://arrow.apache.org/docs/format/CDataInterface.html

It's not how you interact with the data in your own C++ code, it's for passing this data to other in-process consumers (libraries etc). While in the example it calls the release function, this is usually just passed to a downstream consumer and it's their responsibility to call it.

I agree that having such an example as the first one is confusing. Given that a large part of the point of Apache Arrow is passing data columnar data between libraries in different languages in memory, it makes some sense.

[CyberDildonics]

It's not how you interact with the data in your own C++ code, it's for passing this data to other in-process consumers (libraries etc). While in the example it calls the release function, this is usually just passed to a downstream consumer and it's their responsibility to call it.

This seems like a strange rationalizations when you don't need to have explicit release to be able to pass it to something else.

[pjmlp]

RAII predates C++98, I was already used to it in Turbo C++ for MS-DOS, and is pity we need to keep advocating for it as something extraordinary.

[ender341341]

I think you're partly making the point for them, RAII has been idiomatic C++ since before c++ was standardized. It wasn't even idiomatic c++98 to be missing it, so to be missing it in c++20 library definitely still isn't.

[CyberDildonics]

This doesn't have anything to do with what they said, they didn't say RAII was new.