[taylorc8]

What happens if I use memset to zero a structure with a class object in it???

if I have:

struct UserAccount
{
	long int pin;
	string userName; //<-- string class object
	double balance;
};

and I do:

UserAccount currentUser;
memset( &currentUser, 0, sizeof(UserAccount) );

also, is it just a matter of preference to do use the type for the third parameter, or is there a rule to use the name of the type instead, in case someone should change the type, or for any other reason(s) ??

What about using memset() on a class??

This post has been edited by taylorc8: 12 March 2010 - 10:57 PM

[r.stiltskin]

I would be inclined to avoid doing that. I'm not sure, but I'd be afraid that that would cause a memory leak. You'd be deleting the address of the string's contents, but I doubt that that would invoke the string's destructor, so the memory allocated to the string's contents would be lost. Just my guess.

Quote

What about using memset() on a class??

Assuming you mean a class object, it's no different than a struct. If it doesn't contain a pointer to dynamically-allocated memory (or a member variable which in turn contains a pointer to dynamically-allocated memory -- like a string) you should be OK. But if using memset means directly or indirectly erasing an address which points to dynamically-allocated memory, that would be bad.

This post has been edited by r.stiltskin: 12 March 2010 - 11:11 PM

[taylorc8]

r.stiltskin, on 12 March 2010 - 10:06 PM, said:

I would be inclined to avoid doing that. I'm not sure, but I'd be afraid that that would cause a memory leak. You'd be deleting the address of the string's contents, but I doubt that that would invoke the string's destructor, so the memory allocated to the string's contents would be lost. Just my guess.

Well, a quick google turned up something like this:
http://www.devx.com/tips/Tip/14473

and another page
http://forum.codecal...g-c-struct.html

So, I would say, I could put a constructor in the struct to memset the members that aren't floating point or class objects, and also initialize the class objects.

[r.stiltskin]

Actually, I wonder what the worry is about floating-point numbers. Under IEEE754, zeros in all the bits does represent 0. I believe that standard applies to all PCs and Macs.

As far as the strings are concerned, you could make userName a c-string instead & then it would be perfectly safe to use memset.

[taylorc8]

I'm aware of using an array for the username, but a constructor seems like a good idea, because every struct will be zeroed when it's created, and this does happen when someone creates an array of them too, doesn't it?

struct UserAccount
{
	UserAccount()
	{
		pin=0;
		userName="";
		balance=0.0;
	}
	long int pin;
	string userName;
	double balance;
};

UserAccount users[20]; //constructor zeros them all?

This post has been edited by taylorc8: 12 March 2010 - 11:31 PM

[r.stiltskin]

taylorc8, on 13 March 2010 - 01:10 AM, said:

So, I would say, I could put a constructor in the struct to memset the members that aren't floating point or class objects, and also initialize the class objects.

Wait a minute -- I just realized that all you're trying to do is initialize a new struct instance -- so why do you want to bother with memset at all?

What's wrong with

struct UserAccount
{
    long int pin;
    string userName; //<-- string class object
    double balance;

    UserAccount() : pin(0), balance(0.0) {}     
};

You don't have to worry about the string: it's automatically initialized to an empty string.

And if you have a struct that has (your own) class objects as member variables, the default constructors of your class objects should take care of correctly initializing all of their member variables.

[taylorc8]

I just wanted the knowledge for future use of structs with class objects in them, not necessarily using them in a class to manage it.

But, i remember something about this line:

UserAccount() : pin(0), balance(0.0) {} 

What topic should I look up on that again? I think if I was learning C I would know it's intracacies by now, C++ seems to have a little more to learn about oop..

Also, I have a small question about working with files for this project (it's not homework)

I have a marker at the beginning of my file with a 4 byte ID I have chosen (4 letters) and bitwise &'d them with 0x80 (a trick from an old C book) which is supposed to make them beyond the range of printable characters.. but, the way I am doing this, I have opened the file in binary mode, read the 4 bytes to compare with the auth id, and afterwards opened in standard
ios::in only mode, and seeked the get pointer 4 bytes into the file.

Ok, now can I still do ifstreamobj >> variable; with no problems, and does the seekg() work the same in text mode??

This post has been edited by taylorc8: 12 March 2010 - 11:46 PM

[sarmanu]

UserAccount() : pin(0), balance(0.0) {} 

This represents the struct constructor. You may be a little confused about that syntax, but that line is equivalent with:

UserAccount()
{
    pin = 0;
    balance = 0;
}

As you can see, the functionality is the same. Just a different syntax. You choose which one to use ...
Classes can also have constructors. You can read here for more info: http://www.codersour...rial-class.aspx

This post has been edited by sarmanu: 12 March 2010 - 11:50 PM

[r.stiltskin]

Oh well, sarmanu beat me to it, but I guess I'll throw this up here anyway in case it adds anything.


This

UserAccount() : pin(0), balance(0.0) {} 

is just a constructor for the struct. In C++, a struct is essentially the same as a class. The difference is that in a class, all members are private by default, and in a struct members are public by default. So just as a class has a constructor, so does a struct. (If you don't write one, the compiler supplies a default constructor.)

This: UserAccount() is obviously the struct name and empty argument list.
This part: : pin(0), balance(0.0) is an "initializer list" which sets the initial value of the int pin to 0 and the initial value of the double balance to 0.0.
and this {} is the body of the constructor. Since I did all the work of the constructor in the initializer list, there is nothing to do in the body, but every function needs a body so this one gets an empty body.

[r.stiltskin]

taylorc8, on 13 March 2010 - 01:41 AM, said:

I have a marker at the beginning of my file with a 4 byte ID I have chosen (4 letters) and bitwise &'d them with 0x80 (a trick from an old C book) which is supposed to make them beyond the range of printable characters..

I don't get this. Are you sure you don't mean bitwise or? If those 4 bytes are ordinary ASCII chars they're all values of less than 128, so the high-order bit is 0 for all of them. The byte 0x80 in binary is 10000000. If you & that with, say, 01111111, the result is 00000000. In fact, if you and 10000000 with 0??????? (where each ? is either 0 or 1), you get all 0s.

On the other hand, if you or the letters with 0x80 it replaces their leading 0 with a 1 (essentially making them negative).

[taylorc8]

Hmm, I'll have to check up on that
I think it was a
0x80808080

or something.. but, I need some sleep, guys..

[r.stiltskin]

It would still have to be |, not &.

With & the result bit is 0 unless the corresponding bit in both operands is 1.