Follow Techotopia on Twitter

On-line Guides
All Guides
eBook Store
iOS / Android
Linux for Beginners
Office Productivity
Linux Installation
Linux Security
Linux Utilities
Linux Virtualization
Linux Kernel
System/Network Admin
Programming
Scripting Languages
Development Tools
Web Development
GUI Toolkits/Desktop
Databases
Mail Systems
openSolaris
Eclipse Documentation
Techotopia.com
Virtuatopia.com
Answertopia.com

How To Guides
Virtualization
General System Admin
Linux Security
Linux Filesystems
Web Servers
Graphics & Desktop
PC Hardware
Windows
Problem Solutions
Privacy Policy

  




 

 

Thinking in C++
Prev Contents / Index Next

Overloading assignment

A common source of confusion with new C++ programmers is assignment. This is no doubt because the = sign is such a fundamental operation in programming, right down to copying a register at the machine level. In addition, the copy-constructor (described in Chapter 11) is also sometimes invoked when the = sign is used:

MyType b;
MyType a = b;
a = b;

In the second line, the object a is being defined. A new object is being created where one didn’t exist before. Because you know by now how defensive the C++ compiler is about object initialization, you know that a constructor must always be called at the point where an object is defined. But which constructor? a is being created from an existing MyType object (b, on the right side of the equal sign), so there’s only one choice: the copy-constructor. Even though an equal sign is involved, the copy-constructor is called.

In the third line, things are different. On the left side of the equal sign, there’s a previously initialized object. Clearly, you don’t call a constructor for an object that’s already been created. In this case MyType::operator= is called for a, taking as an argument whatever appears on the right-hand side. (You can have multiple operator= functions to take different types of right-hand arguments.)

This behavior is not restricted to the copy-constructor. Any time you’re initializing an object using an = instead of the ordinary function-call form of the constructor, the compiler will look for a constructor that accepts whatever is on the right-hand side:

//: C12:CopyingVsInitialization.cpp
class Fi {
public:
  Fi() {}
};

class Fee {
public:
  Fee(int) {}
  Fee(const Fi&) {}
};

int main() {
  Fee fee = 1; // Fee(int)
  Fi fi;
  Fee fum = fi; // Fee(Fi)
} ///:~

When dealing with the = sign, it’s important to keep this distinction in mind: If the object hasn’t been created yet, initialization is required; otherwise the assignment operator= is used.

It’s even better to avoid writing code that uses the = for initialization; instead, always use the explicit constructor form. The two constructions with the equal sign then become:

Fee fee(1);
Fee fum(fi);

This way, you’ll avoid confusing your readers.

Thinking in C++
Prev Contents / Index Next

 
 
   Reproduced courtesy of Bruce Eckel, MindView, Inc. Design by Interspire