230 Thinking in C++ www.BruceEckel.com
28. Create a function that takes a pointer to an array of
double
and a value indicating the size of that array. The
function should print each element in the array. Now
create an array of
double
and initialize each element to
zero, then use your function to print the array. Next use
reinterpret_cast
to cast the starting address of your array
to an
unsigned char*
, and set each byte of the array to 1
(hint: you’ll need to use
sizeof
to calculate the number of
bytes in a
double
). Now use your array-printing function
to print the results. Why do you think each element was
not set to the value 1.0?
29. (Challenging) Modify
FloatingAsBinary.cpp
so that it
prints out each part of the
double
as a separate group of
bits. You’ll have to replace the calls to
printBinary( )
with

argument and
returns an
int
. Create and initialize a pointer to this
function, and call the function through your pointer.
33. Declare a pointer to a function taking an
int
argument
and returning a pointer to a function that takes a
char
argument and returns a
float
.
3: The C in C++ 231
34. Modify
FunctionTable.cpp
so that each function returns
a
string
(instead of printing out a message) and so that
this value is printed inside of
main( )
.
35. Create a
makefile
for one of the previous exercises (of
your choice) that allows you to type
make
for a
production build of the program, and

less time. There are certainly other issues when it comes to
choosing a language, such as efficiency (does the nature of the
language cause slowdown and code bloat?), safety (does the
language help you ensure that your program will always do what
you plan, and handle errors gracefully?), and maintenance (does
the language help you create code that is easy to understand,
modify, and extend?). These are certainly important factors that
will be examined in this book.
But raw productivity means a program that formerly took three of
you a week to write now takes one of you a day or two. This
touches several levels of economics. You’re happy because you get
the rush of power that comes from building something, your client
(or boss) is happy because products are produced faster and with
fewer people, and the customers are happy because they get
products more cheaply. The only way to get massive increases in
productivity is to leverage off other people’s code. That is, to use
libraries.
A library is simply a bunch of code that someone else has written
and packaged together. Often, the most minimal package is a file
with an extension like
lib
and one or more header files to tell your
compiler what’s in the library. The linker knows how to search
through the library file and extract the appropriate compiled code.
But that’s only one way to deliver a library. On platforms that span
many architectures, such as Linux/Unix, often the only sensible
way to deliver a library is with source code, so it can be
reconfigured and recompiled on the new target.
4: Data Abstraction 235
Thus, libraries are probably the most important way to improve

you’d write in C:
//: C04:CLib.h
// Header file for a C-like library
// An array-like entity created at runtime

typedef struct CStashTag {
int size; // Size of each space
int quantity; // Number of storage spaces
int next; // Next empty space
// Dynamically allocated array of bytes:
unsigned char* storage;
} CStash;

236 Thinking in C++ www.BruceEckel.com
void initialize(CStash* s, int size);
void cleanup(CStash* s);
int add(CStash* s, const void* element);
void* fetch(CStash* s, int index);
int count(CStash* s);
void inflate(CStash* s, int increase);
///:~

A tag name like
CStashTag
is generally used for a
struct
in case
you need to reference the
struct
inside itself. For example, when

smallest piece of storage a C compiler supports, although on some
machines it can be the same size as the largest. It’s implementation
dependent, but is often one byte long. You might think that because
the
CStash
is designed to hold any type of variable, a
void*
would
be more appropriate here. However, the purpose is not to treat this
storage as a block of some unknown type, but rather as a block of
contiguous bytes.
The source code for the implementation file (which you may not
get if you buy a library commercially – you might get only a
compiled
obj
or
lib
or
dll
, etc.) looks like this:
//: C04:CLib.cpp {O}
// Implementation of example C-like library
// Declare structure and functions:
#include "CLib.h"
#include <iostream>
#include <cassert>
using namespace std;
4: Data Abstraction 237
// Quantity of elements to add
// when increasing storage:


int count(CStash* s) {
return s->next; // Elements in CStash
}

void inflate(CStash* s, int increase) {
assert(increase > 0);
int newQuantity = s->quantity + increase;
int newBytes = newQuantity * s->size;
int oldBytes = s->quantity * s->size;
unsigned char* b = new unsigned char[newBytes];
for(int i = 0; i < oldBytes; i++)
b[i] = s->storage[i]; // Copy old to new
238 Thinking in C++ www.BruceEckel.com
delete [](s->storage); // Old storage
s->storage = b; // Point to new memory
s->quantity = newQuantity;
}

void cleanup(CStash* s) {
if(s->storage != 0) {
cout << "freeing storage" << endl;
delete []s->storage;
}
} ///:~

initialize( )
performs the necessary setup for
struct CStash
by

element
is cast to an
unsigned char
*
so that it can be addressed byte-by-byte and copied into the
available
storage
space.
next
is incremented so that it indicates the
next available piece of storage, and the “index number” where the
value was stored so that value can be retrieved using this index
number with
fetch( )
.
fetch( )
checks to see that the index isn’t out of bounds and then
returns the address of the desired variable, calculated using the
index
argument. Since
index
indicates the number of elements to
4: Data Abstraction 239
offset into the
CStash
, it must be multiplied by the number of bytes
occupied by each piece to produce the numerical offset in bytes.
When this offset is used to index into
storage
using array indexing,

change
next
without your permission. If only there were some way
for the library designer to have better control over things like this!
(Yes, that’s foreshadowing.)
Dynamic storage allocation
You never know the maximum amount of storage you might need
for a
CStash
, so the memory pointed to by
storage
is allocated from
the
heap
. The heap is a big block of memory used for allocating
smaller pieces at runtime. You use the heap when you don’t know
the size of the memory you’ll need while you’re writing a program.
That is, only at runtime will you find out that you need space to
hold 200
Airplane
variables instead of 20. In Standard C, dynamic-
memory allocation functions include
malloc( )
,
calloc( )
,
realloc( )
,
and
free( )

newBytes
, which will be the number of bytes in
the allocation. So that we know how many bytes to copy over from
the old location,
oldBytes
is calculated using the old
quantity
.
The actual storage allocation occurs in the
new-expression
, which is
the expression involving the
new
keyword:
new unsigned char[newBytes];

The general form of the new-expression is:
new Type;
in which
Type
describes the type of variable you want allocated on
the heap. In this case, we want an array of
unsigned char
that is
newBytes
long, so that is what appears as the
Type
. You can also
allocate something as simple as an
int

request to fail, if there is no more memory. As you will learn, C++
has mechanisms that come into play if the memory-allocation
operation is unsuccessful.
Once the new storage is allocated, the data in the old storage must
be copied to the new storage; this is again accomplished with array
indexing, copying one byte at a time in a loop. After the data is
copied, the old storage must be released so that it can be used by
other parts of the program if they need new storage. The
delete

keyword is the complement of
new
, and must be applied to release
any storage that is allocated with
new
(if you forget to use
delete
,
that storage remains unavailable, and if this so-called
memory leak
happens enough, you’ll run out of memory). In addition, there’s a
special syntax when you’re deleting an array. It’s as if you must
remind the compiler that this pointer is not just pointing to one
object, but to an array of objects: you put a set of empty square
brackets in front of the pointer to be deleted:
delete []myArray;

Once the old storage has been deleted, the pointer to the new
storage can be assigned to the
storage

compiler. The compiler knows exactly how much storage is needed,
and it knows the lifetime of the variables because of scoping. With
dynamic memory allocation, however, the compiler doesn’t know
how much storage you’re going to need,
and
it doesn’t know the
lifetime of that storage. That is, the storage doesn’t get cleaned up
automatically. Therefore, you’re responsible for releasing the
storage using
delete
, which tells the heap manager that storage can
be used by the next call to
new
. The logical place for this to happen
in the library is in the
cleanup( )
function because that is where all
the closing-up housekeeping is done.
To test the library, two
CStash
es are created. The first holds
int
s
and the second holds arrays of 80
char
s:
//: C04:CLibTest.cpp
//{L} CLib
// Test the C-like library
#include "CLib.h"

i = 0;
while((cp = (char*)fetch(&stringStash,i++))!=0)
cout << "fetch(&stringStash, " << i << ") = "
<< cp << endl;
cleanup(&intStash);
cleanup(&stringStash);
} ///:~

Following the form required by C, all the variables are created at
the beginning of the scope of
main( )
. Of course, you must
remember to initialize the
CStash
variables later in the block by
calling
initialize( )
. One of the problems with C libraries is that you
must carefully convey to the user the importance of the
initialization and cleanup functions. If these functions aren’t called,
there will be a lot of trouble. Unfortunately, the user doesn’t always
wonder if initialization and cleanup are mandatory. They know
what
they
want to accomplish, and they’re not as concerned about
you jumping up and down saying, “Hey, wait, you have to do
this

first!” Some users have even been known to initialize the elements
of a structure themselves. There’s certainly no mechanism in C to

loop, which uses
count( )
to establish its limit. The
stringStash
is printed with a
while
, which breaks out when
fetch( )

returns zero to indicate it is out of bounds.
You’ll also notice an additional cast in
cp = (char*)fetch(&stringStash,i++)

This is due to the stricter type checking in C++, which does not
allow you to simply assign a
void*
to any other type (C allows
this).
Bad guesses
There is one more important issue you should understand before
we look at the general problems in creating a C library. Note that
the
CLib.h
header file
must
be included in any file that refers to
CStash
because the compiler can’t even guess at what that
structure looks like. However, it
can

Thus, any information you provide by including header files is
quite important because it determines the compiler’s
4: Data Abstraction 245
understanding of the rest of your program. Declarations in header
files are particularly important, because everywhere the header is
included, the compiler will know exactly what to do. If, for
example, you have a declaration in a header file that says
void
func(float)
, the compiler knows that if you call that function with
an integer argument, it should convert the
int
to a
float
as it passes
the argument (this is called
promotion
). Without the declaration, the
C compiler would simply assume that a function
func(int)
existed,
it wouldn’t do the promotion, and the wrong data would quietly be
passed into
func( )
.
For each translation unit, the compiler creates an object file, with an
extension of
.o
or
.obj

_func
in one
place and
_func
in another, and it will think everything’s OK. The
func( )
at the calling location will push an
int
onto the stack, and
the
func( )
function body will expect a
float
to be on the stack. If the
function only reads the value and doesn’t write to it, it won’t blow
up the stack. In fact, the
float
value it reads off the stack might even
246 Thinking in C++ www.BruceEckel.com
make some kind of sense. That’s worse because it’s harder to find
the bug.
What's wrong?
We are remarkably adaptable, even in situations in which perhaps
we
shouldn’t
adapt. The style of the
CStash
library has been a staple
for C programmers, but if you look at it for a while, you might
notice that it’s rather . . . awkward. When you use it, you have to

with the identical name. To solve this problem, C library vendors
will often prepend a sequence of unique characters to the beginning
of all their function names. So
initialize( )
and
cleanup( )
might
become
CStash_initialize( )
and
CStash_cleanup( )
. This is a
logical thing to do because it “decorates” the name of the
struct
the
function works on with the name of the function.
Now it’s time to take the first step toward creating classes in C++.
Variable names inside a
struct
do not clash with global variable
names. So why not take advantage of this for function names, when
those functions operate on a particular
struct
? That is, why not
make functions members of
struct
s?
The basic object
Step one is exactly that. C++ functions can be placed inside
struct

248 Thinking in C++ www.BruceEckel.com
new type name for the program (just as
int
,
char
,
float
and
double

are type names).
All the data members are exactly the same as before, but now the
functions are inside the body of the
struct
. In addition, notice that
the first argument from the C version of the library has been
removed. In C++, instead of forcing you to pass the address of the
structure as the first argument to all the functions that operate on
that structure, the compiler secretly does this for you. Now the only
arguments for the functions are concerned with what the function
does
, not the mechanism of the function’s operation.
It’s important to realize that the function code is effectively the
same as it was with the C version of the library. The number of
arguments is the same (even though you don’t see the structure
address being passed in, it’s still there), and there’s only one
function body for each function. That is, just because you say
Stash A, B, C;

doesn’t mean you get a different


Stash
, and not to any other
struct
. In
particular, when you’re defining the function you need to fully
specify which one it is. To accomplish this full specification, C++
has an operator (
::
) called the
scope resolution operator
(named so
4: Data Abstraction 249
because names can now be in different scopes: at global scope or
within the scope of a
struct
). For example, if you want to specify
initialize( )
, which belongs to
Stash
, you say
Stash::initialize(int
size)
. You can see how the scope resolution operator is used in the
function definitions:
//: C04:CppLib.cpp {O}
// C library converted to C++
// Declare structure and functions:
#include "CppLib.h"
#include <iostream>

return 0; // To indicate the end
// Produce pointer to desired element:
250 Thinking in C++ www.BruceEckel.com
return &(storage[index * size]);
}

int Stash::count() {
return next; // Number of elements in CStash
}

void Stash::inflate(int increase) {
assert(increase > 0);
int newQuantity = quantity + increase;
int newBytes = newQuantity * size;
int oldBytes = quantity * size;
unsigned char* b = new unsigned char[newBytes];
for(int i = 0; i < oldBytes; i++)
b[i] = storage[i]; // Copy old to new
delete []storage; // Old storage
storage = b; // Point to new memory
quantity = newQuantity;
}

void Stash::cleanup() {
if(storage != 0) {
cout << "freeing storage" << endl;
delete []storage;
}
} ///:~


variable. But notice, inside
the member function, that the member selection is also gone! Thus,
instead of saying
s–>size = sz;
you say
size = sz;
and eliminate the
tedious
s–>
, which didn’t really add anything to the meaning of
what you were doing anyway. The C++ compiler is apparently
doing this for you. Indeed, it is taking the “secret” first argument
(the address of the structure that we were previously passing in by
hand) and applying the member selector whenever you refer to one
of the data members of a
struct
. This means that whenever you are
inside the member function of another
struct
, you can refer to any
member (including another member function) by simply giving its
name. The compiler will search through the local structure’s names
before looking for a global version of that name. You’ll find that
this feature means that not only is your code easier to write, it’s a
lot easier to read.
But what if, for some reason, you
want
to be able to get your hands
on the address of the structure? In the C version of the library it
was easy because each function’s first argument was a

this
).
There’s one last item to mention. In C, you could assign a
void*
to
any other pointer like this:
int i = 10;
void* vp = &i; // OK in both C and C++
int* ip = vp; // Only acceptable in C

and there was no complaint from the compiler. But in C++, this
statement is not allowed. Why? Because C is not so particular about
type information, so it allows you to assign a pointer with an
unspecified type to a pointer with a specified type. Not so with
C++. Type is critical in C++, and the compiler stamps its foot when
there are any violations of type information. This has always been
important, but it is especially important in C++ because you have
member functions in
struct
s. If you could pass pointers to
struct
s
around with impunity in C++, then you could end up calling a
member function for a
struct
that doesn’t even logically exist for
that
struct
! A real recipe for disaster. Therefore, while C++ allows
the assignment of any type of pointer to a

Stash
is used in the following test program:
//: C04:CppLibTest.cpp
//{L} CppLib
// Test of C++ library
#include "CppLib.h"
#include " /require.h"
#include <fstream>
#include <iostream>
#include <string>
using namespace std;

int main() {
Stash intStash;
intStash.initialize(sizeof(int));
for(int i = 0; i < 100; i++)
intStash.add(&i);
for(int j = 0; j < intStash.count(); j++)
cout << "intStash.fetch(" << j << ") = "
<< *(int*)intStash.fetch(j)
<< endl;
// Holds 80-character strings:
Stash stringStash;
254 Thinking in C++ www.BruceEckel.com
const int bufsize = 80;
stringStash.initialize(sizeof(char) * bufsize);
ifstream in("CppLibTest.cpp");
assure(in, "CppLibTest.cpp");
string line;
while(getline(in, line))

, the C++ function call
intStash.initialize(sizeof(int), 100)
becomes something like
Stash_initialize(&intStash, sizeof(int), 100)
. If you ever wonder
what’s going on underneath the covers, remember that the original
C++ compiler
cfront
from AT&T produced C code as its output,
which was then compiled by the underlying C compiler. This
approach meant that
cfront
could be quickly ported to any machine
that had a C compiler, and it helped to rapidly disseminate C++
compiler technology. But because the C++ compiler had to generate