Congratulations! You are nearly done with a full three-week intensive introduction to C++. By now you should have a solid understanding of C++, but in modern programming there is always more to learn. This chapter will fill in some missing details and then set the course for continued study.
Today you will learn
Every implementation of C++ includes the standard libraries, and most include additional libraries as well. Libraries are sets of functions that can be linked into your code. You've already used a number of standard library functions and classes, most notably from the iostreams library.
To use a library, you typically include a header file in your source code, much as you did by writing #include <iostream.h> in many of the examples in this book. The angle brackets around the filename are a signal to the compiler to look in the directory where you keep the header files for your compiler's standard libraries.
There are dozens of libraries, covering everything from file manipulation to setting the date and time to math functions. Today I will review just a few of the most popular functions and classes in the standard library that have not yet been covered in this book.
The most popular library is almost certainly the string library, with perhaps the function strlen() called most often. strlen() returns the length of a null-terminated string. Listing 21.1 illustrates its use.
1: #include <iostream.h>
2: #include <string.h>
3:
4: int main()
5: {
6: char buffer80];
7: do
8: {
9: cout << "Enter a string up to 80 characters: ";
10: cin.getline(buffer,80);
11: cout << "Your string is " << strlen(buffer);
12: cout << " characters long." << endl;
13: } while (strlen(buffer));
14: cout << "\nDone." << endl;
15: return 0;
16: }
Output: Enter a string up to 80 characters: This sentence has 31 characters
Your string is 31 characters long.
Enter a string up to 80 characters: This sentence no verb
Your string is 21 characters long.
Enter a string up to 80 characters:
Your string is 0 characters long.
Done.
Analysis: On line 6, a
character buffer is created, and on line 9 the user is prompted
to enter a string. As long as the user enters a string, the
length of the string is reported on line 11.
Note the test in the do...while() statement: while
(strlen(buffer)). Since strlen() will return 0
when the buffer is empty, and since 0 evaluates FALSE,
this while loop will continue as long as there are any
characters in the buffer.
The second most popular function in string.h probably was strcpy(), which copied one string to another. This may now be diminished somewhat as C-style null-terminated strings have become less important in C++; typically, string manipulation is done from within a vendor-supplied or user-written string class. Nonetheless, your string class must support an assignment operator and a copy constructor, and often these are implemented using strcpy(), as illustrated in Listing 21.2.
1: #include <iostream.h>
2: #include <string.h>
3:
4: int main()
5: {
6: char stringOne80];
7: char stringTwo80];
8:
9: stringOne0]='\0';
10: stringTwo0]='\0';
11:
12: cout << "String One: " << stringOne << endl;
13: cout << "String Two: " << stringTwo << endl;
14:
15: cout << "Enter a string: ";
16: cin.getline(stringOne,80);
17:
18: cout << "\nString One: " << stringOne << endl;
19: cout << "String Two: " << stringTwo << endl;
20:
21: cout << "copying..." << endl;
22: strcpy(stringTwo,stringOne);
23:
24: cout << "\nString One: " << stringOne << endl;
25: cout << "String Two: " << stringTwo << endl;
26: cout << "\nDone " << endl;
27: return 0;
28: }
Output: String One:
String Two:
Enter a string: Test of strcpy()
String One: Test of strcpy()
String Two:
copying...
String One: Test of strcpy()
String Two: Test of strcpy()
Done
Analysis: Two C-style
null-terminated strings are declared on lines 6 and 7. They are
initialized to empty on lines 9 and 10, and their values are
printed on lines 12 and 13. The user is prompted to enter a
string, and the result is put in stringOne; the two
strings are printed again, and only stringOne has the
input. Strcpy() is then called, and stringOne
is copied into stringTwo.
Note that the syntax of strcpy() can be read as
"copy into the first parameter the string in the second
parameter." What happens if the target string (stringTwo)
is too small to hold the copied string? This problem and its
solution are illustrated in Listing 21.3.
Listing 21.3. Using strncpy().
1: #include <iostream.h>
2: #include <string.h>
3:
4: int main()
5: {
6: char stringOne[80];
7: char stringTwo[10];
8: char stringThree[80];
9:
10: stringOne[0]='\0';
11: stringTwo[0]='\0';
12: stringThree[0]='\0';
13:
14: cout << "String One: " << stringOne << endl;
15: cout << "String Two: " << stringTwo << endl;
16: cout << "String Three: " << stringThree << endl;
17:
18: cout << "Enter a long string: ";
19: cin.getline(stringOne,80);
20: strcpy(stringThree,stringOne);
21: // strcpy(stringTwo,stringOne);
22:
23: cout << "\nString One: " << stringOne << endl;
24: cout << "String Two: " << stringTwo << endl;
25: cout << "String Three: " << stringThree << endl;
26:
27: strncpy(stringTwo,stringOne,9);
28:
29: cout << "\nString One: " << stringOne << endl;
30: cout << "String Two: " << stringTwo << endl;
31: cout << "String Three: " << stringThree << endl;
32:
33: stringTwo[9]='\0';
34:
35: cout << "\nString One: " << stringOne << endl;
36: cout << "String Two: " << stringTwo << endl;
37: cout << "String Three: " << stringThree << endl;
38: cout << "\nDone." << endl;
39: return 0;
40: }
Output: String One:
String Two:
String Three:
Enter a long string: Now is the time for all...
String One: Now is the time for all...
String Two:
String Three: Now is the time for all...
String One: Now is the time for all...
String Two: Now is th_+||
String Three: Now is the time for all...
String One: Now is the time for all...
String Two: Now is th
String Three: Now is the time for all...
Done.
Analysis: On lines
6, 7, and 8, three string buffers are declared. Note that stringTwo
is declared to be only 10 characters, while the others are 80.
All three are initialized to zero length on lines 10 to 12 and
are printed on lines 14 to 16.
The user is prompted to enter a string, and that string is copied
to string three on line 20. Line 21 is commented out; copying
this long string to stringTwo caused a crash on my
computer because it wrote into memory that was critical to the
program.
The standard function strcpy() starts copying at the address pointed to by the first parameter (the array name), and it copies the entire string without ensuring that you've allocated room for it!
The standard library offers a second, safer function, strncpy(), which copies only a specified number of characters to the target string. The n in the middle of the function name strncpy() stands for number. This is a convention used throughout the standard libraries.
On line 27, the first nine characters of stringOne are copied to stringTwo and the result is printed. Because strncpy() does not put a null at the end of the copied string, the result is not what was intended. Note that strcpy() does null-terminate the copied string, but strncpy() does not, just to keep life interesting.
The null is added on line 33, and the strings are then printed a final time.
Related to strcpy() and strncpy() are the standard functions strcat() and strncat(). The former concatenates one string to another; that is, it appends the string it takes as its second parameter to the end of the string it takes as its first parameter. strncat(), as you might expect, appends the first n characters of one string to the other. Listing 21.4 illustrates their use.
Listing 21.4. Using strcat() and strncat().
1: #include <iostream.h>
2: #include <string.h>
3:
4:
5: int main()
6: {
7: char stringOne[255];
8: char stringTwo[255];
9:
10: stringOne[0]='\0';
11: stringTwo[0]='\0';
12:
13: cout << "Enter a string: ";
14: cin.getline(stringOne,80);
15:
16: cout << "Enter a second string: ";
17: cin.getline(stringTwo,80);
18:
19: cout << "String One: " << stringOne << endl;
20: cout << "String Two: " << stringTwo << endl;
21:
22: strcat(stringOne," ");
23: strncat(stringOne,stringTwo,10);
24:
25: cout << "String One: " << stringOne << endl;
26: cout << "String Two: " << stringTwo << endl;
27:
28: return 0;
29: }
Output: Enter a string: Oh beautiful
Enter a second string: for spacious skies for amber waves of grain
String One: Oh beautiful
String Two: for spacious skies for amber waves of grain
String One: Oh beautiful for spacio
String Two: for spacious skies for amber waves of grain
Analysis: On lines
7 and 8, two character arrays are created, and the user is
prompted for two strings, which are put into the two arrays.
A space is appended to stringOne on line 22, and on line
23, the first ten characters of stringTwo are appended
to stringOne. The result is printed on lines 25 and 26.
The string library provides a number of other string functions, including those used to find occurrences of various characters or "tokens" within a string. If you need to find a comma or a particular word as it occurs in a string, look to the string library to see whether the function you need already exists.
The time library provides a number of functions for obtaining a close approximation of the current time and date, and for comparing times and dates to one another.
The center of this library is a structure, tm, which consists of nine integer values for the second, minute, hour, day of the month, number of the month (where January=0), the number of years since 1900, the day (where Sunday=0), the day of the year (0-365), and a Boolean value establishing whether daylight saving time is in effect. (This last may not be supported on some systems.)
Most time functions expect a variable of type time_t or a pointer to a variable of this type. There are conversion routines to turn such a variable into a tm data structure.
The standard library supplies the function time(), which takes a pointer to a time_t variable and fills it with the current time. It also provides ctime(), which takes the time_t variable filled by time() and returns an ASCII string that can be used for printing. If you need more control over the output, however, you can pass the time_t variable to local_time(), which will return a pointer to a tm structure. Listing 21.5 illustrates these various time functions.
1: #include <time.h>
2: #include <iostream.h>
3:
4: int main()
5: {
6: time_t currentTime;
7:
8: // get and print the current time
9: time (¤tTime); // fill now with the current time
10: cout << "It is now " << ctime(¤tTime) << endl;
11:
12: struct tm * ptm= localtime(¤tTime);
13:
14: cout << "Today is " << ((ptm->tm_mon)+1) << "/";
15: cout << ptm->tm_mday << "/";
16: cout << ptm->tm_year << endl;
17:
18: cout << "\nDone.";
19: return 0;
20: }
Output: It is now Mon Mar 31 13:50:10 1997
Today is 3/31/97
Done.
Analysis: On line 6, CurrentTime is declared to be a variable of type time_t. The address of this variable is passed to the standard time library function time(), and the variable currentTime is set to the current date and time. The address of this variable is then passed to ctime(), which returns an ASCII string that is in turn passed to the cout statement on line 12.The address of currentTime is then passed to the standard time library function localtime(), and a pointer to a tm structure is returned, which is used to initialize the local variable ptm. The member data of this structure is then accessed to print the current month, day of the month, and year.
stdlib is something of a miscellaneous collection of functions that did not fit into the other libraries. It includes simple integer math functions, sorting functions (including qsort(), one of the fastest sorts available), and text conversions for moving from ASCII text to integers, long, float, and so forth.
The functions in stdlib you are likely to use most often include atoi(), itoa(), and the family of related functions. atoi() provides ASCII to integer conversion. atoi() takes a single argument: a pointer to a constant character string. It returns an integer (as you might expect). Listing 21.6 illustrates its use.
Listing 21.6. Using atoi() and related functions.
1: #include <stdlib.h>
2: #include <iostream.h>
3:
4: int main()
5: {
6: char buffer[80];
7: cout << "Enter a number: ";
8: cin >> buffer;
9:
10: int number;
11: // number = buffer; compile error
12: number = atoi(buffer);
13: cout << "Here's the number: " << number << endl;
14:
15: // int sum = buffer + 5;
16: int sum = atoi(buffer) + 5;
17: cout << "Here's sum: " << sum << endl;
18: return 0;
19: }
Output: Enter a number: 9
Here's the number: 9
Here's sum: 14
Analysis: On line 6
of this simple program, an 80-character buffer is allocated, and
on line 7 the user is prompted for a number. The input is taken
as text and written into the buffer.
On line 10, an int variable, number, is
declared, and on line 11 the program attempts to assign the
contents of the buffer to the int variable. This
generates a compile-time error and is commented out.
On line 12, the problem is solved by invoking the standard library function atoi(), passing in the buffer as the parameter. The return value, the integer value of the text string, is assigned to the integer variable number and printed on line 13.
On line 15, a new integer variable, sum, is declared, and an attempt is made to assign to it the result of adding the integer constant 5 to the buffer. This, too, fails and is solved by calling the standard function atoi().
NOTE: Some compilers implement standard conversion procedures (such as atoi()) using macros. You can usually use these functions without worrying about how they are implemented. Check your compiler's documentation for details.
At times you may want to sort a table or an array; qsort() provides a quick and easy way to do so. The hard part of using qsort() is setting up the structures to pass in.
qsort() takes four arguments. The first is a pointer to the start of the table to be sorted (an array name works just fine), the second is the number of elements in the table, the third is the size of each element, and the fourth is a pointer to a comparison function.
The comparison function must return an int, and must take as its parameters two constant void pointers. void pointers aren't used very often in C++, as they diminish the type checking, but they have the advantage that they can be used to point to items of any type. If you were writing your own qsort() function, you might consider using templates instead. Listing 21.7 illustrates how to use the standard qsort() function.
1: /* qsort example */
2:
3: #include <iostream.h>
4: #include <stdlib.h>
5:
6: // form of sort_function required by qsort
7: int sortFunction( const void *intOne, const void *intTwo);
8:
9: const int TableSize = 10; // array size
10:
11: int main(void)
12: {
13: int i,table[TableSize];
14:
15: // fill the table with values
16: for (i = 0; i<TableSize; i++)
17: {
18: cout << "Enter a number: ";
19: cin >> table[i];
20: }
21: cout << "\n";
22:
23: // sort the values
24: qsort((void *)table, TableSize, sizeof(table[0]), sortFunction);
25:
26: // print the results
27: for (i = 0; i < TableSize; i++)
28: cout << "Table [" << i << "]: " << table[i] << endl;
29:
30: cout << "Done." << endl;
31: return 0;
32: }
33:
34: int sortFunction( const void *a, const void *b)
35: {
36: int intOne = *((int*)a);
37: int intTwo = *((int*)b);
38: if (intOne < intTwo)
39: return -1;
40: if (intOne == intTwo)
41: return 0;
42: return 1;
43: }
Output: Enter a number: 2
Enter a number: 9
Enter a number: 12
Enter a number: 873
Enter a number: 0
Enter a number: 45
Enter a number: 93
Enter a number: 2
Enter a number: 66
Enter a number: 1
Table[0]: 0
Table[1]: 1
Table[2]: 2
Table[3]: 2
Table[4]: 9
Table[5]: 12
Table[6]: 45
Table[7]: 66
Table[8]: 93
Table[9]: 873
Done.
Analysis: On line
4, the standard library header is included, which is required by
the qsort() function. On line 7, the function sortFunction()
is declared, which takes the required four parameters.
An array is declared on line 13 and filled by user input on lines
16-20. qsort() is called on line 24, casting the address
of the array name table to be a void*.
Note that the parameters for sortFunction are not passed to the call to qsort(). The name of the sortFunction, which is itself a pointer to that function, is the parameter to qsort().
Once qsort() is running, it will fill the constant void pointers a and b with each value of the array. If the first value is smaller than the second, the comparison function must return -1. If it is equal, the comparison function must return 0. Finally, if the first value is greater than the second value, the comparison function must return 1. This is reflected in the sortFunction(), as shown on lines 34 to 43.
Your C++ compiler supplies a number of other libraries, among them the standard input and output libraries and the stream libraries that you've been using throughout this book. It is well worth your time and effort to explore the documentation that came with your compiler to find out what these libraries have to offer.
Often you will want to set flags in your objects to keep track of the state of your object. (Is it in AlarmState? Has this been initialized yet? Are you coming or going?)
You can do this with user-defined Booleans, but when you have many flags, and when storage size is an issue, it is convenient to be able to use the individual bits as flags.
Each byte has eight bits, so in a four-byte long you can hold 32 separate flags. A bit is said to be "set" if its value is 1, and clear if its value is 0. When you set a bit, you make its value 1, and when you clear it, you make its value 0. (Set and clear are both adjectives and verbs). You can set and clear bits by changing the value of the long, but that can be tedious and confusing.
NOTE: Appendix C, "Binary and Hexadecimal," provides valuable additional information about binary and hexadecimal manipulation.
C++ provides bitwise operators that act upon the individual
bits.These look like, but are different from, the logical
operators, so many novice programmers confuse them. The bitwise
operators are presented in Table 21.1.
Table 21.1. The Bitwise Operators.
| symbol | operator |
| & | AND |
| | | OR |
| ^ | exclusive OR |
| ~ | complement |
The AND operator (&) is a single ampersand, as opposed to the logical AND, which is two ampersands. When you AND two bits, the result is 1 if both bits are 1, but 0 if either or both bits are 0. The way to think of this is: The result is 1 if bit 1 is set and if bit 2 is set.
The second bitwise operator is OR (|). Again, this is a single vertical bar, as opposed to the logical OR, which is two vertical bars. When you OR two bits, the result is 1 if either bit is set or if both are.
The third bitwise operator is exclusive OR (^). When you exclusive OR two bits, the result is 1 if the two bits are different.
The complement operator (~) clears every bit in a number that is set and sets every bit that is clear. If the current value of the number is 1010 0011, the complement of that number is 0101 1100.
When you want to set or clear a particular bit, you use masking operations. If you have a 4-byte flag and you want to set bit 8 TRUE, you need to OR the flag with the value 128. Why? 128 is 1000 0000 in binary; thus the value of the eighth bit is 128. Whatever the current value of that bit (set or clear), if you OR it with the value 128 you will set that bit and not change any of the other bits. Let's assume that the current value of the 8 bits is 1010 0110 0010 0110. ORing 128 to it looks like this:
9 8765 4321 1010 0110 0010 0110 // bit 8 is clear | 0000 0000 1000 0000 // 128 ---------------------- 1010 0110 1010 0110 // bit 8 is set
There are a few things to note. First, as usual, bits are counted from right to left. Second, the value 128 is all zeros except for bit 8, the bit you want to set. Third, the starting number 1010 0110 0010 0110 is left unchanged by the OR operation, except that bit 8 was set. Had bit 8 already been set, it would have remained set, which is what you want.
If you want to clear bit 8, you can AND the bit with the complement of 128. The complement of 128 is the number you get when you take the bit pattern of 128 (1000 0000), set every bit that is clear, and clear every bit that is set (0111 1111). When you AND these numbers, the original number is unchanged, except for the eighth bit, which is forced to zero.
1010 0110 1010 0110 // bit 8 is set & 1111 1111 0111 1111 // ~128 ---------------------- 1010 0110 0010 0110 // bit 8 cleared
To fully understand this solution, do the math yourself. Each time both bits are 1, write 1 in the answer. If either bit is 0, write 0 in the answer. Compare the answer with the original number. It should be the same except that bit 8 was cleared.
Finally, if you want to flip bit 8, no matter what its state, you exclusive OR the number with 128. Thus:
1010 0110 1010 0110 // number ^ 0000 0000 1000 0000 // 128 ---------------------- 1010 0110 0010 0110 // bit flipped ^ 0000 0000 1000 0000 // 128 ---------------------- 1010 0110 1010 0110 // flipped back
DO set bits by using masks and the OR operator. DO clear bits by using masks and the AND operator. DO flip bits using masks and the exclusive OR operator.
There are circumstances under which every byte counts, and saving six or eight bytes in a class can make all the difference. If your class or structure has a series of Boolean variables, or variables that can have only a very small number of possible values, you may save some room using bit fields.
Using the standard C++ data types, the smallest type you can use in your class is a type char, which is one byte. You will usually end up using an int, which is two, or more often four, bytes. By using bit fields, you can store eight binary values in a char and 32 such values in a long.
Here's how bit fields work: bit fields are named and accessed like any class member. Their type is always declared to be unsigned int. After the bit field name, write a colon followed by a number. The number is an instruction to the compiler as to how many bits to assign to this variable. If you write 1, the bit will represent either the value 0 or 1. If you write 2, the bit can represent 0, 1, 2, or 3, a total of four values. A three-bit field can represent eight values, and so forth. Appendix C reviews binary numbers. Listing 21.8 illustrates the use of bit fields.
Listing 21.8. Using bit fields.
0: #include <iostream.h>
1: #include <string.h>
2:
3: enum STATUS { FullTime, PartTime } ;
4: enum GRADLEVEL { UnderGrad, Grad } ;
5: enum HOUSING { Dorm, OffCampus };
6: enum FOODPLAN { OneMeal, AllMeals, WeekEnds, NoMeals };
7:
8: class student
9: {
10: public:
11: student():
12: myStatus(FullTime),
13: myGradLevel(UnderGrad),
14: myHousing(Dorm),
15: myFoodPlan(NoMeals)
16: {}
17: ~student(){}
18: STATUS GetStatus();
19: void SetStatus(STATUS);
20: unsigned GetPlan() { return myFoodPlan; }
21:
22: private:
23: unsigned myStatus : 1;
24: unsigned myGradLevel: 1;
25: unsigned myHousing : 1;
26: unsigned myFoodPlan : 2;
27: };
28:
29: STATUS student::GetStatus()
30: {
31: if (myStatus)
32: return FullTime;
33: else
34: return PartTime;
35: }
36: void student::SetStatus(STATUS theStatus)
37: {
38: myStatus = theStatus;
39: }
40:
41:
42: int main()
43: {
44: student Jim;
45:
46: if (Jim.GetStatus()== PartTime)
47: cout << "Jim is part time" << endl;
48: else
49: cout << "Jim is full time" << endl;
50:
51: Jim.SetStatus(PartTime);
52:
53: if (Jim.GetStatus())
54: cout << "Jim is part time" << endl;
55: else
56: cout << "Jim is full time" << endl;
57:
58: cout << "Jim is on the " ;
59:
60: char Plan[80];
61: switch (Jim.GetPlan())
62: {
63: case OneMeal: strcpy(Plan,"One meal"); break;
64: case AllMeals: strcpy(Plan,"All meals"); break;
65: case WeekEnds: strcpy(Plan,"Weekend meals"); break;
66: case NoMeals: strcpy(Plan,"No Meals");break;
67: default : cout << "Something bad went wrong!\n"; break;
68: }
69: cout << Plan << " food plan." << endl;
70: return 0;
71: }
Output: Jim is part time
Jim is full time
Jim is on the No Meals food plan.
Analysis: On lines
3 to 7, several enumerated types are defined. These serve to
define the possible values for the bit fields within the student
class.
Student is declared in lines 8-27. While this is a trivial
class, it is interesting in that all the data is packed into five
bits. The first bit represents the student's status, full-time or
part-time. The second bit represents whether or not this is an
undergraduate. The third bit represents whether or not the
student lives in a dorm. The final two bits represent the four
possible food plans.
The class methods are written as for any other class, and are in no way affected by the fact that these are bit fields and not integers or enumerated types.
The member function GetStatus() reads the Boolean bit and returns an enumerated type, but this is not necessary. It could just as easily have been written to return the value of the bit field directly. The compiler would have done the translation.
To prove that to yourself, replace the GetStatus() implementation with this code:
STATUS student::GetStatus()
{
return myStatus;
}
There should be no change whatsoever to the functioning of the program. It is a matter of clarity when reading the code; the compiler isn't particular.
Note that the code on line 46 must check the status and then print the meaningful message. It is tempting to write this:
cout << "Jim is " << Jim.GetStatus() << endl;
That will simply print this:
Jim is 0
The compiler has no way to translate the enumerated constant PartTime into meaningful text.
On line 61, the program switches on the food plan, and for each possible value it puts a reasonable message into the buffer, which is then printed on line 69. Note again that the switch statement could have been written as follows:
case 0: strcpy(Plan,"One meal"); break; case 1: strcpy(Plan,"All meals"); break; case 2: strcpy(Plan,"Weekend meals"); break; case 3: strcpy(Plan,"No Meals");break;
The most important thing about using bit fields is that the client of the class need not worry about the data storage implementation. Because the bit fields are private, you can feel free to change them later and the interface will not need to change.
As stated elsewhere in this book, it is important to adopt a consistent coding style, though in many ways it doesn't matter which style you adopt. A consistent style makes it easier to guess what you meant by a particular part of the code, and you avoid having to look up whether you spelled the function with an initial cap or not the last time you invoked it.
The following guidelines are arbitrary; they are based on the guidelines used in projects I've worked on in the past, and they've worked well. You can just as easily make up your own, but these will get you started.
As Emerson said, "Foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of small minds," but having some consistency in your code is a good thing. Make up your own, but then treat it as if it were dispensed by the programming gods.
Tab size should be four spaces. Make sure your editor converts each tab to four spaces.
How to align braces can be the most controversial topic between C and C++ programmers. Here are the tips I suggest:
if (condition==true)
{
j = k;
SomeFunction();
}
m++;
Keep lines to the width displayable on a single screen. Code that is off to the right is easily overlooked, and scrolling horizontally is annoying. When a line is broken, indent the following lines. Try to break the line at a reasonable place, and try to leave the intervening operator at the end of the previous line (as opposed to the beginning of the following line) so that it is clear that the line does not stand alone and that there is more coming.
In C++, functions tend to be far shorter than they were in C, but the old, sound advice still applies. Try to keep your functions short enough to print the entire function on one page.
Indent switches as follows to conserve horizontal space:
switch(variable)
{
case ValueOne:
ActionOne();
break;
case ValueTwo:
ActionTwo();
break;
default:
assert("bad Action");
break;
}
There are several tips you can use to create code that is easy to read. Code that is easy to read is easy to maintain.
char* foo; int& theInt;
char *foo; int &theInt;
Here are some guidelines for working with identifiers.
Spelling and capitalization should not be overlooked when creating your own style. Some tips for these areas include the following:
enum TextStyle
{
tsPlain,
tsBold,
tsItalic,
tsUnderscore,
};
Comments can make it much easier to understand a program. Sometimes you will not work on a program for several days or even months. In this time you can forget what certain code does or why it has been included. Problems in understanding code can also occur when someone else reads your code. Comments that are applied in a consistent, well thought out style can be well worth the effort. There are several tips to remember concerning comments:
n++; // n is incremented by one
The way you access portions of your program should also be consistent. Some tips for access include these:
Try to keep the definitions of methods in the same order as the declarations. It makes things easier to find.
When defining a function, place the return type and all other modifiers on a previous line so that the class name and function name begin on the left margin. This makes it much easier to find functions.
Try as hard as you can to keep from including files into header files. The ideal minimum is the header file for the class this one derives from. Other mandatory includes will be those for objects that are members of the class being declared. Classes that are merely pointed to or referenced only need forward references of the form.
Don't leave out an include file in a header just because you assume that whatever CPP file includes this one will also have the needed include.
TIP: All header files should use inclusion guards.
Use assert() freely. It helps find errors, but it also greatly helps a reader by making it clear what the assumptions are. It also helps to focus the writer's thoughts around what is valid and what isn't.
Use const wherever appropriate: for parameters, variables, and methods. Often there is a need for both a const and a non-const version of a method; don't use this as an excuse to leave one out. Be very careful when explicitly casting from const to non-const and vice versa (there are times when this is the only way to do something), but be certain that it makes sense, and include a comment.
You've spent three long, hard weeks working at C++, and you are now a competent C++ programmer, but you are by no means finished. There is much more to learn and many more places you can get valuable information as you move from novice C++ programmer to expert.
The following sections recommend a number of specific sources of information, and these recommendations reflect only my personal experience and opinions. There are dozens of books on each of these topics, however, so be sure to get other opinions before purchasing.
The very first thing you will want to do as a C++ programmer will be to tap into one or another C++ conference on an online service. These groups supply immediate contact with hundreds or thousands of C++ programmers who can answer your questions, offer advice, and provide a sounding board for your ideas.
I participate in the C++ Internet newsgroups (comp.lang.c++ and comp.lang.c++.moderated), and I recommend them as excellent sources of information and support.
Also, you may want to look for local user groups. Many cities have C++ interest groups where you can meet other programmers and exchange ideas.
The very next book I'd run out and buy and read is
Meyers, Scott. Effective C++ (ISBN: 0-201-56364-9). Addison-Wesley Publishing, 1993.
This is by far the most useful book I've ever read, and I've read it three times.
There is one more thing you can do to strengthen your skills: subscribe to a good magazine on C++ programming. The absolute best magazine of this kind, I believe, is C++ Report from SIGS Publications. Every issue is packed with useful articles. Save them; what you don't care about today will become critically important tomorrow.
You can reach C++ Report at SIGS Publications, P.O. Box 2031, Langhorne, PA 19047-9700. I have no affiliation with the magazine (I work for two other publishers!), but their magazine is the best, bar none.
If you have comments, suggestions, or ideas about this book or other books, I'd love to hear them. Please write to me at jliberty@libertyassociates.com, or check out my Web site: www.libertyassociates.com. I look forward to hearing from you.
DO look at other books. There's plenty to learn and no single book can teach you everything you need to know. DON'T just read code! The best way to learn C++ is to write C++ programs. DO subscribe to a good C++ magazine and join a good C++ user group.
Today you saw how some of the standard libraries shipped with your C++ compiler can be used to manage some routine tasks. Strcpy(), strlen(), and related functions can be used to manipulate null-terminated strings. Although these won't work with the string classes you create, you may find that they provide functionality essential to implementing your own classes.
The time and date functions allow you to obtain and manipulate time structures. These can be used to provide access to the system time for your programs, or they can be used to manipulate time and date objects you create.
You also learned how to set and test individual bits, and how to allocate a limited number of bits to class members.
Finally, C++ style issues were addressed, and resources were provided for further study.
if (SomeCondition){
// statements
} // closing brace