Module 818

Encapsulation of Objects and

Methods in C++

A. Goodman

Deakin University

Module 818

ENCAPSULATION OF OBJECTS AND METHODS IN

C++

Aim
After working through this module you should be able to create and use
objects in C++, incorporating encapsulation and information hiding

Learning objectives
After working through this module you should be able to:
1. Identify the advantages of using encapsulated objects in C++
2. List the advantages of using information hiding in C++
3. Describe the process of object-oriented messaging in C++
4. Define and use constructors and destructors in C++
5. List the correct methods for using classes for object packaging in
C++
6. Define and use abstract data types in C++
7. Use objects within C++ programs
8. List the advantages of using operator overloading in C++

Content
Definition of objects in C++
Encapsulation of data and methods
Constructors and destructors
Abstract data types
Operator overloading

Learning Strategy
Read the printed module and the assigned readings and complete the
exercises as requested.

Assessment
Completion of exercises and the CML test at the end of the module.

Page 818-1

Module 818

ENCAPSULATION OF OBJECTS AND METHODS IN

C++

Objective 1

After working through this module you should be able to identify the
advantages of using encapsulated objects in C++
Encapsulation is the basic process of forming objects. An encapsulated
object is often called an abstract data type. Without encapsulation,
which involves the use of one or more classes, there is really no basis
for object-oriented programming.

Why use encapsulation?

When we fully encapsulate code, we actually build an impenetrable wall
to protect the contained code from accidental corruption due to the silly
little errors that we are all prone to make. We also tend to isolate errors
to small sections of code to make them easier to find and fix. We will
have a lot more to say about the benefits of encapsulation as we
progress through this Module.
Encapsulation is the basic method for producing information hiding in
object-oriented methodology. The following program [OPEN.CPP] is a
conventional program that incorporates no information hiding, largely
because of the use of global identifiers.
#include <iostream.h>
struct one_datum {
int data_store;
};
void main()
{
one_datum dog1, dog2, dog3;
int piggy;
dog1.data_store = 12;
dog2.data_store = 17;
dog3.data_store = -13;
piggy = 123;
cout << "The value of dog1 is " << dog1.data_store << "\n";
cout << "The value of dog2 is " << dog2.data_store << "\n";
cout << "The value of dog3 is " << dog3.data_store << "\n";
cout << "The value of piggy is " << piggy << "\n";
}

A very simple structure is defined in lines 2 to 4 which contains a single

int type variable within the structure. Three variables are declared in
line 7, each of which contains a single int type variable, and each of the
three variables are available anywhere within the main function. Each
variable can be assigned, incremented, read, modified, or have any
number of operations performed on it; a few of these operations are
illustrated in lines 9 to 16.

Exercise 1
Describe in simple terms the process of encapsulation.

Page 818-2

Module 818

ENCAPSULATION OF OBJECTS AND METHODS IN

C++

Objective 2

After working through this section you should be able to list the
advantages of using information hiding in C++
The next program [CLAS.CPP] has limited information hiding. This
program is identical to the last one except for the way it does some of
its operations. We will take the differences one at a time and explain
what is happening. Keep in mind that this is a trivial program and the
safeguards built into it are not needed for such a simple program but are
used here to illustrate how to use these techniques in a larger and more
complicated program.

#include <iostream.h>
class one_datum {
int data_store;
public:
void set(int in_value);
int get_value(void);
};
void one_datum::set(int in_value)
{
data_store = in_value;
}
int one_datum::get_value(void)
{
return data_store;
}
void main()
{
one_datum dog1, dog2, dog3;
int piggy;
dog1.set(12);
dog2.set(17);
dog3.set(-13);
piggy = 123;
// dog1.data_store = 115;
This is illegal in C++
// dog2.data_store = 211;
This is illegal in C++
cout << "The value of dog1 is " << dog1.get_value() << "\n";
cout << "The value of dog2 is " << dog2.get_value() << "\n";
cout << "The value of dog3 is " << dog3.get_value() << "\n";
cout << "The value of piggy is " << piggy << "\n";
}

The first difference is that we have the definition of a class instead of a

structure beginning in line 2. The only difference between a class and a
structure is that a class begins with a private section whereas a structure
has no private section automatically defined. The keyword class is used
to declare a class.
The class named one_datum is composed of the single variable named
data_store and two functions, one named set( ) and the other named
get_value( ). A more complete definition of a class is a group of
variables and one or more functions that can operate on that data.

The PRIVATE section

A private section of a class is a section of data which cannot be
accessed outside of the class; it is hidden from any outside access. Thus
Page 818-3

Module 818

ENCAPSULATION OF OBJECTS AND METHODS IN

C++
the variable named data_store, which is a part of the object (an object
will be defined completely later) named dog1 declared in line 18, is not
available for use anywhere in the main function. It is as if we have built
a brick wall around the variables to protect them from accidental
corruption by outside programming influences. It seems a little strange
to declare a variable in the main program that we cannot use, but that is
exactly what we did.

The PUBLIC section

A new keyword, public, is introduced in line 4 which states that
anything following this keyword can be accessed from outside of this
class. Because the two functions are defined following the keyword
public, they are both public and available for use in the calling function
or any other function that is within the scope of the calling function.
This opens two small peepholes in the solid wall of protection. You
should keep in mind that the private variable is not available to the
calling program. Thus, we can only use the variable by calling one of
the two functions defined as a part of the class. These are called
member functions because they are members of the class.
Since we have declared two functions, we need to define them by
saying what each function will actually do. This is done in lines 8 to 15
where they are each defined in the normal way, except that the class
name is prepended onto the function name and separated from it by a
double colon. These two function definitions are called the
implementation of the functions. The class name is required because we
can use the same function name in other classes and the compiler must
know with which class to associate each function implementation.
One of the key points to be made here is that the private data contained
within the class is available within the implementation of the member
functions of the class for modification or reading in the normal manner.
You can do anything with the private data within the function
implementations which are a part of that class, but the private data of
other classes is hidden and not available within the member functions of
this class. This is the reason we must prepend the class name to the
function names of this class when defining them.
Note that it is legal to include variables and functions in the private part
and additional variables and functions in the public part. In most
practical situations, variables are included in only the private part and
functions are included in only the public part of a class definition.
Occasionally, variables or functions are used in the other part. This
sometimes leads to a very practical solution to a particular problem, but
in general, the entities are used only in the places mentioned.

Page 818-4

Module 818

ENCAPSULATION OF OBJECTS AND METHODS IN

C++
In C++ we have three scopes of variables: local, file and class. Local
variables are localised to a single function and file variables are available
anywhere in a file following their definition. A variable with class scope
is available anywhere within the scope of a class and nowhere else.
To clarify the use of the various OOP terms we have introduced, Table
1 presents definitions of the four terms we have used so far in this
Module, together with their use in C++.

Class

A grouping of data and methods (functions). A class is

similar to a type in ANSI-C.

Object

An instance of a class, similar to a variable defined as an

instance of a type.

Method

A function contained within the class, designed to operate

on the data within the class.

Message

Equivalent to a function call in ANSI-C. In object-oriented

programming, we send messages instead of calling functions.

Table 1: OOP Terminology in C++

Note that lines 5 and 6 of this program are actually the prototypes for
the two methods within a class. The method named set requires one
parameter of type int and returns nothing, so the return type is void.
The method named get_value ( ) has no input parameters but returns an
int type value to the caller.

Exercise 2
Define the difference between a class and an object.
Modify CLAS.CPP by adding a method to calculate the square of the
stored value. Amend the main program to read and display the resulting
squared values.
Add a constructor to CLAS.CPP to initialise the stored value to 10, and
amend the main program to display the values immediately after the
object definition.

Page 818-5

Module 818

Objective 3

ENCAPSULATION OF OBJECTS AND METHODS IN

C++
After working through this section you should be able to describe the
process of object-oriented messaging in C++
How do we use the class one_datum that is defined in CLAS.CPP? The
class is made up of one variable and two methods. The methods operate
on the variable contained in the class when they receive messages to do
so. In line 18 we declare three objects of the class one_datum and name
the objects dog1, dog2, and dog3. Each object contains a single data
point which we can set through use of one method, or read its value
through use of the other method, but we cannot directly set or read the
value of the data point because it is hidden within the "block wall"
around the class. In line 21, we send a message to the object named
dog1 instructing it to set its internal value to 12, and even though this
looks like a function call, it is properly called sending a message to a
method. Remember that the object named dog1 has a method
associated with it called set( ) that sets its internal value to the actual
parameter included within the message. You will notice that the form is
very much like the means of accessing the elements of a structure. You
mention the name of the object with a dot connecting it to the name of
the method. In a similar manner, we send a message to each of the other
two objects dog2 and dog3 to set their values to those indicated.
Lines 24 and 25 have been commented out because the operations are
illegal because the variable named data_store is private and not
available to the code outside of the object itself. It should be clear that
the data contained within the object named dog1 is not available within
the methods of dog2 or dog3 because they are different objects.
The other method defined for each object is used in lines 26 to 29 to
illustrate how it can be used. In each case, another message is sent to
each object and the returned result is output to the monitor via the
stream library.

Using a normal variable

There is another variable named piggy declared and used throughout
this program that illustrates that a standard C variable can be intermixed
with the objects and used in the normal manner. It would be a good
exercise for you to remove the comments from lines 24 and 25 to see
what kind of error message your compiler issues.

Problems
The next program [OPENPOLE.CPP] has a few serious problems that
will be overcome in the next example program by using the principles of
encapsulation.

Page 818-6

Module 818

ENCAPSULATION OF OBJECTS AND METHODS IN

C++
#include <iostream.h>
int area(int rec_height, int rec_width);
struct rectangle {
int height;
int width;
};
struct pole {
int length;
int depth;
};
int area(int rec_height, int rec_width)
//Area of a rectangle
{
return rec_height * rec_width;
}
void main()
{
rectangle box, square;
pole flag_pole;
box.height = 12;
box.width = 10;
square.height = square.width = 8;
flag_pole.length = 50;
flag_pole.depth = 6;
cout << "The area of the box is " <<
area(box.height, box.width) << "\n";
cout << "The area of the square is " <<
area(square.height, square.width) << "\n";
cout << "The funny area is " <<
area(square.height, box.width) << "\n";
cout << "The bad area is " <<
area(square.height, flag_pole.depth) << "\n";
}

We have two structures declared, one a rectangle and the other a pole.
The data fields should be self-explanatory with the exception of the
depth of the flagpole, which is the depth it is buried in the ground. The
overall length of the pole is therefore the sum of the length and the
depth.
Based on your experience with ANSI-C, you should have no problem
understanding exactly what this program is doing, but you may be a bit
confused at the meaning of the result found in lines 28 and 29, where
we multiply the height of the square with the width of the box. This is
perfectly legal in ANSI-C or C++, but the result has no meaning
because the data are for two different entities. Likewise, the result
calculated in lines 30 and 31 is even sillier because the product of the
height of the square and the depth of the flagpole has absolutely no
meaning in any real-world physical system we can think up.
Would it not be convenient if we had some way to prevent such things
from happening in a large production program? If we had a program
that defined all of the things we can do with a square and another
program that defined everything we could do with a pole, and if the
data could be kept mutually exclusive, we could prevent these things
from happening. The next program will do just those things for us and
do it in a very elegant way.

Page 818-7

Module 818

ENCAPSULATION OF OBJECTS AND METHODS IN

C++
Objects protect data
The next program [CLASPOLE.CPP] is an example of data protection
in a very simple program.
#include <iostream.h>
class rectangle {
// A simple class
int height;
int width;
public:
int area(void);
// with two methods
void initialize(int, int);
};
int rectangle::area(void)
//Area of a rectangle
{
return height * width;
}
void rectangle::initialize(int init_height, int init_width)
{
height = init_height;
width = init_width;
}
struct pole {
int length;
int depth;
};
void main()
{
rectangle box, square;
pole flag_pole;
// box.height = 12;
// box.width = 10;
// square.height = square.width = 8;
box.initialize(12, 10);
square.initialize(8, 8);
flag_pole.length = 50;
flag_pole.depth = 6;
cout << "The area of the box is " << box.area() << "\n";
cout << "The area of the square is " << square.area() << "\n";
// cout << "The funny area is " <<
//
area(square.height, box.width) << "\n";
// cout << "The bad area is " <<
//
area(square.height, flag_pole.depth) << "\n";
}

In this program the rectangle is changed to a class with the same two
variables (which are now private) and two methods to handle the
private data. One method is used to initialise the values of the objects
created and the other method to return the area of the object. The two
methods are defined in lines 7 to 17 in the manner described previously.
The pole is left as a structure to illustrate that the two can be used
together and that C++ is truly an extension of ANSI-C.
In line 24 we declare two objects, once again named box and square,
but this time we cannot assign values directly to their individual
components because they are private elements of the class. Lines 26 to
28 are commented out for that reason and the messages are sent to the
objects in lines 29 and 30 to tell them to initialise themselves to the
values input as parameters. The flag_pole is initialised in the same
manner as in the previous program. Using the class in this way prevents
us from making the silly calculations we did in the last program. The
Page 818-8

Module 818

ENCAPSULATION OF OBJECTS AND METHODS IN

C++
compiler is now being used to prevent the erroneous calculations. The
end result is that the stupid calculations we did in the last program are
not possible in this program so lines 35 to 38 have been commented
out. Once again, it is difficult to see the utility of this in such a simple
program, but in a large program, using the compiler to enforce the rules
can really pay off.
Even though the square and the box are both objects of class rectangle,
their private data is hidden from each other such that neither can
purposefully or accidentally change the others data. This is the abstract
data type mentioned earlier in this section, a model with an allowable
set of variables for data storage and a set of allowable operations that
can be performed on that stored data. The only operations that can be
performed on the data are those defined by the methods which prevents
many kinds of erroneous or silly operations. Encapsulation and data
hiding bind the data and procedures, or methods, tightly together and
limit the scope and visibility of each. Once again, we have the divide
and conquer technique in which an object is separated from the rest of
the code and carefully developed in complete isolation from it. Only
then is it integrated into the rest of the code with a few very simple
interfaces.
A good example of the use of this technique is in file access in ANSI-C.
The data in the file are only available through the predefined functions
provided by your compiler writer. You have no direct access to the
actual data because it is impossible for you to address the actual data
stored on the disk. The data are therefore private data, as far as you are
concerned, but the available functions are very much like methods in
C++. There are two aspects of this technique that really count when
you are developing software. First, you can get all of the data you really
need from the file system because the interface is complete, but
secondly, you cannot get any data that you do not need. You are
prevented from getting into the file handling system and accidentally
corrupting some data stored within it. You are also prevented from
using the wrong data because the functions available demand a serial
access to the data.
Another example is monitor and keyboard handling routines. You are
prevented from getting into the workings of them and corrupting them
accidentally (or even on purpose), but once again, you are provided
with all of the data interfaces you need.
Suppose you are developing a program to analyse some characteristics
of flagpoles. You would not wish to accidentally use some data
referring to where the flagpole program was stored on your hard disk as
the height of the flagpole, nor would you wish to use the cursor
position as the flagpole thickness or colour. All code for the flagpole is
developed alone, and only when it is finished, is it available for external
Page 818-9

Module 818

ENCAPSULATION OF OBJECTS AND METHODS IN

C++
use. When using it, you have a very limited number of operations which
you can do with the class. The fact that the data is hidden from you
protects you from accidentally doing such a thing when you are
working at midnight to try to meet a schedule. Once again, this is
referred to as information hiding and is one of the primary advantages
of object oriented programming over procedural techniques.
Based on the discussion given above you can see that object-oriented
programming is not really new, since it has been used in a small
measure for as long as computers have been popular. The newest
development, however, is in allowing the programmer to partition her
programs in such a way that she too can practice information hiding and
reduce the debugging time.

Cost of encapsulation
It should be clear that this technique has an efficiency cost because
every access of the elements of the object will require a call to a
method. In building a large program, however, this could easily be
saved in debug time. This is because a program made up of objects that
closely match the application are much easier to understand than a
program that does not.
In a real project, however, there could be considerable savings in
development time (and therefore cost) if someone developed all the
details of the rectangle, programmed them, and made them available to
you to use.
This is exactly what has been done if you regard the video monitor
(screen) as an object. There is a complete set of pre-programmed and
debugged routines you can use to make the monitor do anything you
wish it to do, all you have to do is study the interface to the routines
and use them, expecting them to work. It is impossible for you to
multiply the size of your monitor screen by the depth of the flag pole
because that information is not available to you to use in a corruptible
or meaningless way.

Exercise 3
Describe how a message is sent to a method.

Page 818-10

Module 818

ENCAPSULATION OF OBJECTS AND METHODS IN

C++

Objective 4

After working through this section you should be able to define and use
constructors and destructors in C++
The next program [CONSPOLE.CPP] introduces constructors and
destructors.

#include <iostream.h>
class rectangle {
// A simple class
int height;
int width;
public:
rectangle(void);
// with a constructor,
int area(void);
// two methods,
void initialize(int, int);
~rectangle(void);
// and a destructor
};
rectangle::rectangle(void)
// constructor
{
height = 6;
width = 6;
}
int rectangle::area(void)
// Area of a rectangle
{
return height * width;
}
void rectangle::initialize(int init_height, int init_width)
{
height = init_height;
width = init_width;
}
rectangle::~rectangle(void)
// destructor
{
height = 0;
width = 0;
}
struct pole {
int length;
int depth;
};
void main()
{
rectangle box, square;
pole flag_pole;
cout << "The area of the box is " << box.area() << "\n";
cout << "The area of the square is " << square.area() << "\n";
// box.height = 12;
// box.width = 10;
// square.height = square.width = 8;
box.initialize(12, 10);
square.initialize(8, 8);
flag_pole.length = 50;
flag_pole.depth = 6;
cout << "The area of the box is " << box.area() << "\n";
cout << "The area of the square is " << square.area() << "\n";
// cout << "The funny area is " <<
//
area(square.height, box.width) << "\n";
// cout << "The bad area is " <<
//
area(square.height, flag_pole.depth) << "\n";
}

This program is identical to the last except that a constructor has been
added as well as a destructor. The constructor always has the same
name as the class itself and is declared in line 8 then defined in lines 11
to 15. The constructor is called automatically by the C++ system when

Page 818-11

Module 818

ENCAPSULATION OF OBJECTS AND METHODS IN

C++
the object is declared and can therefore be of great help in preventing
the use of an uninitialised variable. When the object named box is
declared in line 36, the constructor is called automatically by the
system. The constructor sets the values of height and width each to 6 in
the object named box. This is printed out for reference in lines 38 and
39. Likewise, when the square is declared in line 36, the values of the
height and the width of the square are each initialised to 6 when the
constructor is called automatically.
A constructor is defined as having the same name as the class itself. In
this case both are named rectangle. The constructor cannot have a
return type associated with it since it is not permitted to have a user
defined return type. It actually has a predefined return type, a pointer to
the object itself, but we will not be concerned about this until much
later in this tutorial. Even though both objects are assigned values by
the constructor, they are initialised in lines 45 and 46 to new values and
processing continues. Since we have a constructor that does the
initialisation, we should probably rename the method named initialize( )
something else but it illustrates the concept involved here.
The destructor is very similar to the constructor except that it is called
automatically when each of the objects goes out of scope. You will
recall that automatic variables have a limited lifetime since they cease to
exist when the enclosing block in which they were declared is exited.
When an object is about to be automatically deallocated, its destructor,
if one exists, is called automatically. A destructor is characterised as
having the same name as the class but with a tilde prepended to the
class name. A destructor has no return type.
A destructor is declared in line 9 and defined in lines 26 to 29. In this
case the destructor only assigns zeros to the variables prior to their
being deallocated, so nothing is really accomplished. The destructor is
only included for illustration of how it is used. If some blocks of
memory were dynamically allocated within an object, a destructor
should be used to deallocate them prior to losing the pointers to them.
This would return their memory to the free store for further use later in
the program.
It is interesting to note that if a constructor is used for an object that is
declared prior to the main program, otherwise known as globally, the
constructor will actually be executed prior to the execution of the main
program. Similarlry, if a destructor is defined for such a variable, it will
execute after the main program has been executed. This will not
adversely affect your programs, but it is worth noting.

Exercise 4
Define the terms constructor and destructor.
Page 818-12

Module 818

ENCAPSULATION OF OBJECTS AND METHODS IN

C++
Modify CONSPOLE.CPP by adding appropriate output statements to
the constructor and destuctor of the rectangle object to verify how and
when they are called.

Page 818-13

Module 818

ENCAPSULATION OF OBJECTS AND METHODS IN

C++

Objective 5

After working through this section you should be able to list the correct
methods for using classes for object packaging in C++
The program below [BOXES1.CPP] is an example of how not to
package an object for universal use. This packaging is actually fine for a
very small program but is meant to illustrate to you how to split your
program up into smaller more manageable files when you are
developing a large program or when you are part of a team developing
a large system. The next three example programs in this section will
illustrate the proper method of packaging a class.

#include <iostream.h>
class box {
int length;
int width;
public:
box(void);
//Constructor
void set(int new_length, int new_width);
int get_area(void) {return (length * width);}
~box(void);
//Destructor
};
box::box(void)
//Constructor implementation
{
length = 8;
width = 8;
}
// This method will set a box size to the two input parameters
void box::set(int new_length, int new_width)
{
length = new_length;
width = new_width;
}
box::~box(void)
//Destructor
{
length = 0;
width = 0;
}
void main()
{
box small, medium, large;
//Three boxes to work with
small.set(5, 7);
// Note that the medium box uses the values supplied
// by the constructor
large.set(15, 20);
cout << "The small box area is " << small.get_area() << "\n";
cout << "The medium box area is " << medium.get_area() << "\n";
cout << "The large box area is " << large.get_area() << "\n";
}

This program is very similar to the last one with the pole structure
dropped and the class renamed box. The class is defined in lines 2 to 10,
the implementation of the class is given in lines 11 to 26, and the use of
the class is given in lines 29 to 36. With the explanation we gave of the
last program, you should have no problem understanding this program
in detail.

Page 818-14

Module 818

ENCAPSULATION OF OBJECTS AND METHODS IN

C++
Inline implementation
The method in line 8 contains the implementation for the method as a
part of the declaration because it is very simple, and because it
introduces another new topic which you will use often in C++
programming. When the implementation is included in the declaration,
it will be assembled inline wherever this function is called. This leads to
much faster code because there is no overhead to accomplish the call to
the method. In some cases this will lead to code that is both smaller and
faster. This is yet another illustration of the efficiency built into the C++
programming language.

The class header file

If you examine BOX.H carefully, you will see that it is only the class
definition.
class box {
int length;
int width;
public:
box(void);
//Constructor
void set(int new_length, int new_width);
int get_area(void) {return (length * width);}
~box(void);
//Destructor
};

No details are given of how the various methods are implemented

except of course for the inline method named get_area( ). This gives the
complete definition of how to use the class with no implementation
details. You would be advised to keep a hardcopy of this file available
as we study the next two files. You will notice that it contains lines 2 to
8 of the previous example program named BOXES1.CPP. This is called
the class header file and cannot be compiled or executed.

The Class Implementation File

Examine the next program file [BOX.CPP] for the implementation of
the methods declared in the class header file. Notice that the class
header file is included into this file in line 1 which contains all of the
prototypes for its methods.
#include "box.h"
box::box(void)
//Constructor implementation
{
length = 8;
width = 8;
}
// This method will set a box size to the two input parameters
void box::set(int new_length, int new_width)
{
length = new_length;
width = new_width;
}
box::~box(void)
//Destructor
{

Page 818-15

Module 818

ENCAPSULATION OF OBJECTS AND METHODS IN

C++
length = 0;
width = 0;
}

The code from lines 11 to 26 of BOXES1.CPP is contained in this file

which is the implementation of the methods declared in the class named
box. This file can be compiled but it cannot be executed because there
is no main entry point which is required for all ANSI-C or C++
programs. When it is compiled, the object code will be stored in the
current directory and available for use by other programs. It should be
noted here that the result of compilation is usually referred to as an
object file because it contains object code. This use of the word object
has nothing to do with the word object as used in object-oriented
programming. It is simply a matter of overloading the use of the word.
The practice of referring to the compiled result as an object file began
long before the method of object-oriented programming was ever
considered.
The separation of the definition and the implementation is a major step
forward in software engineering. The definition file is all the user needs
in order to use this class effectively in a program. She needs no
knowledge of the actual implementation of the methods. If she had the
implementation available, she may study the code and find a trick she
could use to make the overall program slightly more efficient, but this
would lead to non-portable software and possible bugs later if the
implementor changed the implementation without changing the
interface. The purpose of object-oriented programming is to hide the
implementation in such a way that the implementation can not affect
anything outside of its own small and well defined boundary or
interface. Compile this implementation file now and we will use the
resulting object file with the next example program.

Using the box object

Examine the next program [BOXES2.CPP] and you will find that the
class we defined previously is used within this file. In fact, these last
three programs taken together are identical to the program named
BOXES1.CPP studied earlier.
#include <iostream.h>
#include "box.h"
void main()
{
box small, medium, large;
//Three boxes to work with
small.set(5, 7);
// Note that the medium box uses the values
// supplied by the constructor
large.set(15, 20);
cout << "The small box area is " << small.get_area() << "\n";
cout << "The medium box area is " << medium.get_area() << "\n";
cout << "The large box area is " << large.get_area() << "\n";
}

The BOX.H file is included here, in line 2, since the definition of the
box class is needed to declare three objects and use their methods. You
Page 818-16

Module 818

ENCAPSULATION OF OBJECTS AND METHODS IN

C++
should have no trouble seeing that this is a repeat of the previous
program and will execute in exactly the same way. There is a big
difference between BOXES1.CPP and BOXES2.CPP as we will see
shortly.
A very important distinction must be made at this point. We are not
merely calling functions and changing the terminology a little to say we
are sending messages; there is an inherent difference in the two
operations. Since the data for each object are tightly bound up in the
object, there is no way to get to the data except through the methods,
and we send a message to the object telling it to perform some
operation based on its internally stored data. However, whenever we
call a function, we take along the data for it to work with as parameters
since it doesn't contain its own data.
You can compile and execute this program, but when you come to the
link step, you will be required to link this program along with the result
of the earlier compilation of class named box, named BOX.OBJ. This is
where a make or project file will be required, as described in Module
812. We will be linking several more multi-file C++ programs in the
remainder of this, and the next, Module.

Information hiding again

The last three example programs have illustrated a method of
information hiding that can have a significant impact on the quality of
software developed for a large project. Since the only information the
user of the class really needs is the class header, that is all she needs to
be given. The details of implementation can be kept hidden from him to
prevent her from studying the details and possibly using a quirk of
programming to write some rather obtuse code. Since she doesn't know
exactly what the implementor did, she must follow only the definition
given in the header file. This can have a significant impact on a large
project. As mentioned earlier, accidental corruption of data is prevented
also.
Another reason for hiding the implementation is economic. The
company that supplied you with your C++ compiler gave you many
library functions but did not supply the source code to the library
functions, only the interface to each function. You know how to use the
file access functions but you do not have the details of implementation,
nor do you need them. Likewise a class library industry can develop
which supplies users with libraries of high quality, completely
developed and tested classes, for a licensing fee of course. Since the
user only needs the interface defined, she can be supplied with the
interface and the object (compiled) code for the class and can use it in
any way she desires. The supplier's source code is protected from

Page 818-17

Module 818

ENCAPSULATION OF OBJECTS AND METHODS IN

C++
accidental (or intentional) compromise and she can maintain complete
control over it.
It is very important that you understand the principles covered in this
section before proceeding on to the next section. It requires
considerable analysis and planning to effectively use classes.

Exercise 5
Explain the distinction between method declaration and implementation,
and how these are managed in C++.

Page 818-18

Module 818

Objective 6

ENCAPSULATION OF OBJECTS AND METHODS IN

C++
After working through this section you should be able to define and use
abstract data types in C++
An abstract data type is a group of data, each of which can store a
range of values, and a set of methods or functions that can operate on
that data. Since the data are protected from any outside influence, it is
protected and said to be encapsulated. Also, since the data is somehow
related, it is a very coherent group of data that may be highly interactive
with each other, but with little interaction of its class outside the scope.
The methods, on the other hand, are coupled to the outside world
through the interface, but there are a limited number of contacts with
the outside world and therefore a weak coupling with the outside. The
object is therefore said to be loosely coupled to the outside world.
Because of the tight coherency and the loose coupling, ease of
maintenance of the software is greatly enhanced. The ease of
maintenance may be the greatest benefit of object-oriented
programming.
It may bother you that even though the programmer may not use the
private variables directly outside of the class, they are in plain sight and
she can see what they are and can probably make a good guess at
exactly how the class is implemented. The variables could have been
hidden completely out of sight in another file, but because the designers
of C++ wished to make the execution of the completed application as
efficient as possible, the variables were left in the class definition where
they can be seen but not used.

Friend functions
A function outside of a class can be defined to be a friend function by
the class which gives the friend free access to the private members of
the class. This in effect, opens a small hole in the protective shield of
the class, so it should be used very carefully and sparingly. There are
cases where it helps to make a program much more understandable and
allows controlled access to the data. Friend functions will be illustrated
in some of the example programs later in this tutorial. It is mentioned
here for completeness of this section. A single isolated function can be
declared as a friend, as well as members of other classes, and even
entire classes can be given friend status if needed in a program. Neither
a constructor nor a destructor can be a friend function.

The STRUCT in C++

The struct is still useable in C++ and operates just like it does in ANSIC, but with one addition. You can include methods in a structure that
operate on data in the same manner as in a class, but all methods and
Page 818-19

Module 818

ENCAPSULATION OF OBJECTS AND METHODS IN

C++
data are automatically defaulted to be public in a structure. Of course
you can make any of the data or methods private by defining a private
section within the structure. The structure should be used only for
constructs that are truly structures. If you are building even the simplest
objects, you are advised to use classes to define them.

A Practical Class
The examples of encapsulation used so far in this Module have all been
extremely simple in order to focus attention on the mechanics of
encapsulation. In this section we will study the development of a
noticeably larger example, based upon the date class. The date class is a
complete, nontrivial class which can be used in any program to get the
current date and print it as an ASCII string in any of four predefined
formats. It can also be used to store any desired date and format it for
display. The next program file [DATE.H] is the header file for the date
class.
// This date class is intended to illustrate how to write a non// trivial class in C++. Even though this class is non-trivial,
// it is still simple enough for a new C++ programmer to follow
// all of the details.
#ifndef DATE_H
#define DATE_H
class date {
protected:
int month;
// 1 through 12
int day;
// 1 through max_days
int year;
// 1500 through 2200
static char out_string[25]; // Format output area
static char format;
// Format to use for output
// Calculate how many days are in any given month
// Note - This is a private method which can be called only
//
from within the class itself
int days_this_month(void);
public:
// Constructor - Set the date to the current date and set
//
the format to 1
date(void);
// Set the date to these input parameters
// if return = 0 ---> All data is valid
// if return = 1 ---> Something out of range
int set_date(int in_month, int in_day, int in_year);
// Get the month, day, or year of the stored date
int get_month(void)
{ return month; };
int get_day(void)
{ return day;
};
int get_year(void)
{ return year; };
// Select the desired string output format for use when the
// get_date_string is called
void set_date_format(int format_in) { format = format_in; };
// Return an ASCII-Z string depending on the stored format
//
format = 1
Aug 29, 1991
//
format = 2
8/29/91
//
format = 3
8/29/1991
//
format = 4
29 Aug 1991
Military time
//
format = ?
Anything else defaults to format 1
char *get_date_string(void);
// Return Jan Feb Mar Apr etc.
char *get_month_string(void);
};
#endif

Page 818-20

Module 818

ENCAPSULATION OF OBJECTS AND METHODS IN

C++
There are one or two new features in this code. The reserved word
protected in line 8 will be defined shortly; for now, think of it as
meaning the same as private. The keyword static in lines 12 and 13 will
be explained later, as will the code in lines 5, 6 and 43. For the present,
simply pretend those lines (5, 6 and 43) are not there.
You should spend the time necessary to completely understand this
class header, with the exception of the new things added, before going
on to the implementation for this class.

Using the data class

The following program [DATE.CPP] is the implementation of the date
class.
// This file contains the implementation for the date class.
#include <stdio.h>
// Prototype for sprintf
#include <time.h>
// Prototypes for the current date
#include "date.h"
char date::format;
// This defines the static data member
char date::out_string[25];
// This defines the static string
// Constructor - Set date to current date, and
//
set format to the default of 1
date::date(void)
{
time_t time_date;
struct tm *current_date;
time_date = time(NULL);
// DOS system call
current_date = localtime(&time_date);
// DOS system call
month = current_date->tm_mon + 1;
day = current_date->tm_mday;
year = current_date->tm_year + 1900;
format = 1;
}
// Set the date to these input parameters
// if return = 0 ---> All data is valid
// if return = 1 ---> Something out of range
int date::set_date(int in_month, int in_day, int in_year)
{
int temp = 0;
int max_days;
// The limits on the year are purely arbitrary
if (in_year < 1500) {
// Check that the year is between
year = 1500;
// 1500 and 2200
temp = 1;
} else {
if (in_year > 2200) {
year = 2200;
temp = 1;
} else
year = in_year;
}
if(in_month < 1) { // Check that the month is between 1 and 12
temp = 1;
} else {
if (in_month > 12) {
month = 12;
temp = 1;
} else
month = in_month;
}
max_days = days_this_month();
if (in_day < 1) {
// Check that the day is between

Page 818-21

Module 818

ENCAPSULATION OF OBJECTS AND METHODS IN

C++
day = temp = 1;
// 1 and max_days
} else {
if (in_day > max_days) {
day = max_days;
temp = 1;
} else
day = in_day;
}
return temp;
}
static char *month_string[13] = {" ", "Jan", "Feb", "Mar", "Apr",
"May", "Jun", "Jul", "Aug",
"Sep", "Oct", "Nov", "Dec"};
// Return Jan Feb Mar Apr etc.
char *date::get_month_string(void)
{
return month_string[month];
}
// Return an ASCII-Z string depending on the stored format
//
format = 1
Aug 29, 1991
//
format = 2
8/29/91
//
format = 3
8/29/1991
//
format = 4
29 Aug 1991
Military time
//
format = ?
Anything else defaults to format 1
char *date::get_date_string(void)
{
switch (format) {
// This printout assumes that the year will be between 1900
// and 1999
case 2: sprintf(out_string, "%02d/%02d/%02d",
month, day, year - 1900);
break;
case 3: sprintf(out_string, "%02d/%02d/%04d", month, day, year);
break;
case 4: sprintf(out_string, "%d %s %04d",
day, month_string[month], year);
break;
case 1:
// Fall through to the default case
default: sprintf(out_string, "%s %d, %04d",
month_string[month], day, year);
break;
}
return out_string;
}
int days[13] = {0, 31, 28, 31, 30, 31,
30, 31, 31, 30, 31, 30, 31};
// Since this is declared in the private part of the class
// header is is only available for use within the class.
// It is hidden from use outside of the class.
int date::days_this_month(void)
{
if (month != 2)
return days[month];
if (year % 4)
// Not leap year
return 28;
if (year % 100)
// It is leap year
return 29;
if (year % 400)
// Not leap year
return 28;
return 29;
// It is leap year
}

The program below [USEDATE.CPP] is a main program that uses the

date class to list the current date and another date on the monitor. Once
again, you should have no problem understanding this program.
// This is a very limited test of the date class
#include <iostream.h>
#include "date.h"

Page 818-22

Module 818

ENCAPSULATION OF OBJECTS AND METHODS IN

C++
void main()
{
date today, birthday;
birthday.set_date(7, 21, 1960);
cout << "Limited test of the date class\n";
cout << "Today is " << today.get_date_string() << "\n";
cout << "Birthday is " << birthday.get_date_string() << "\n";
today.set_date_format(4);
cout << "Today is " << today.get_date_string() << "\n";
cout << "Birthday is " << birthday.get_date_string() << "\n";
}

This class will be extensively used, in conjunction with others, to

illustrate single and multiple inheritance in Module 819. Even though
you may not yet understand all the details of these files, spend enough
time that you are comfortable with their structure and the major points
that they illustrate.

Exercise 6
Describe how structures in C++ differ from structures in C.
Write the header file [NAME.H] for a name class, similar to the date
class. This class should store any name as three components (first name,
middle name or initial, family name) and display them in any of several
different forms (e.g. John Paul Jones; J.P.Jones; Jones, John Paul)

Page 818-23

Module 818

ENCAPSULATION OF OBJECTS AND METHODS IN

C++

Objective 7

After working through this section you should be able to use objects
within C++ Programs
This section looks at how to use some of the traditional aspects of C or
C++ programming with classes and objects. Pointers to an object, as
well as pointers within an object, will be illustrated, as will arrays
embedded within an object, and arrays of objects. Since objects are
simply another C++ data construct, all of these things are possible and
can be used as needed.
We will use the BOXES1.CPP program from the last section as a
starting point and we will add a few new constructs to it for each
example program. You will recall that it was a very simple program
with the class definition, the class implementation, and the main calling
program all in one file. This was selected as a starting point because we
will eventually make changes to all parts of the program and it will be
convenient to have it all in a single file for illustrative purposes. It must
be kept in mind however that the proper way to use these constructs is
to separate them into the three files as was illustrated in BOX.H,
BOX.CPP, and BOXES2.CPP in the last section. This allows the
implementor of box to supply the user with only the interface, namely
BOX.H. Not giving her the implementation file named BOX.CPP is to
practice the technique of information hiding.

An array of objects
Examine the next program [OBJARRAY.CPP] for an example of an
array of objects. This file is nearly identical to the file named
BOX1.CPP until we come to line 33 where an array of 4 boxes is
declared.
#include <iostream.h>
class box {
int length;
int width;
static int extra_data;
// Declaration of extra_data
public:
box(void);
//Constructor
void set(int new_length, int new_width);
int get_area(void);
int get_extra(void) {return extra_data++;}
};
int box::extra_data;
// Definition of extra_data
box::box(void)
//Constructor implementation
{
length = 8;
width = 8;
extra_data = 1;
}
// This method will set a box size to the two input parameters
void box::set(int new_length, int new_width)
{
length = new_length;
width = new_width;

Page 818-24

Module 818

ENCAPSULATION OF OBJECTS AND METHODS IN

C++
}
// This method will calculate and return the area of a box
instance
int box::get_area(void)
{
return (length * width);
}
void main()
{
box small, medium, large, group[4];
//Seven boxes to work with
small.set(5, 7);
large.set(15, 20);
for (int index = 1 ; index < 4 ; index++)
//group[0] uses default
group[index].set(index + 10, 10);
cout << "The small box area is " << small.get_area() << "\n";
cout << "The medium box area is " << medium.get_area() << "\n";
cout << "The large box area is " << large.get_area() << "\n";
for (index = 0 ; index < 4 ; index++)
cout << "The array box area is " <<
group[index].get_area() << "\n";
cout << "The extra data value is " << small.get_extra() << "\n";
cout << "The extra data value is " << medium.get_extra() << "\n";
cout << "The extra data value is " << large.get_extra() << "\n";
cout << "The extra data value is " << group[0].get_extra()
<< "\n";
cout << "The extra data value is " << group[3].get_extra()
<< "\n";
}

Recalling the operation of the constructor, you will remember that each
of the four box objects will be initialised to the values defined within the
constructor since each box will go through the constructor as they are
declared. In order to declare an array of objects, a constructor for that
object must not require any parameters. (We have not yet illustrated a
constructor with initialising parameters, but we will in the next
program.) This is an efficiency consideration since it would probably be
an error to initialise all elements of an array of objects to the same
value. We will see the results of executing the constructor when we
compile and execute the file later.
Line 36 defines a for loop that begins with 1 instead of the normal
starting index for an array leaving the first object, named group[0], to
use the default values stored when the constructor was called. You will
observe that sending a message to one of the objects uses the same
construct as is used for any object. The name of the array followed by
its index in square brackets is used to send a message to one of the
objects in the array. This is illustrated in line 36 and the operation of
that code should be clear to you. The other method is called in the
output statement in lines 39 to 41 where the area of the four boxes in
the group array are listed on the monitor.
Another fine point should be pointed out. The integer variable named
index is declared in line 36 and is still available for use in line 38 since
we have not yet left the enclosing block which begins in line 32 and
extends to line 51.

Page 818-25

Module 818

ENCAPSULATION OF OBJECTS AND METHODS IN

C++
Declaration and definition of a variable
An extra variable was included for illustration, the one named
extra_data. Since the keyword static is used to modify this variable in
line 5, it is an external variable and only one copy of this variable will
ever exist. All seven objects of this class share a single copy of this
variable which is global to the objects defined in line 33.
The variable is actually only declared here which says it will exist
somewhere, but it is not defined. A declaration says the variable will
exist and gives it a name, but the definition actually defines a place to
store it somewhere in the computers memory space. By definition, a
static variable can be declared in a class header but it cannot be defined
there, so it is defined somewhere outside of the header, usually in the
implementation file. In this case it is defined in line 12 and can then be
used throughout the class.
Line 17 of the constructor sets the single global variable to 1 each time
an object is declared. Only one assignment is necessary so the other six
are actually wasted code. To illustrate that there is only one variable
shared by all objects of this class, the method to read its value also
increments it. Each time it is read in lines 45 to 51 it is incremented, and
the result of the execution proves that there is only a single variable
shared by all objects of this class. You will also note that the method
named get_extra( ) is defined within the class declaration so it will be
assembled into the final program as inline code.

A string within an object

Look at the next program [OBJSTRNG.CPP] for our first example of
an object with an embedded string (actually an embedded pointer, but
the two work so closely together that we can study one and understand
both).
#include <iostream.h>
class box {
int length;
int width;
char *line_of_text;
public:
box(char *input_line);
//Constructor
void set(int new_length, int new_width);
int get_area(void);
};
box::box(char *input_line)
//Constructor implementation
{
length = 8;
width = 8;
line_of_text = input_line;
}
// This method will set a box size to the two input parameters
void box::set(int new_length, int new_width)
{
length = new_length;

Page 818-26

Module 818

ENCAPSULATION OF OBJECTS AND METHODS IN

C++
width = new_width;
}
// This method will calculate and return the area of a
instance
int box::get_area(void)
{
cout << line_of_text << "= ";
return (length * width);
}
void main()
{
box small("small box "),
//Three boxes to work with
medium("medium box "),
large("large box ");
small.set(5, 7);
large.set(15, 20);
cout << "The area of the ";
cout << small.get_area() << "\n";
cout << "The area of the ";
cout << medium.get_area() << "\n";
cout << "The area of the ";
cout << large.get_area() << "\n";
}

box

You will notice that line 5 contains a pointer to a string named

line_of_text. The constructor contains an input parameter which is a
pointer to a string which will be copied to the string named line_of_text
within the constructor. We could have defined the variable line_of_text
as an actual array in the class, then used strcpy( ) to copy the string into
the object and everything would have worked the same, but we will
leave that as an exercise for you at the end of this section. It should be
pointed out that we are not limited to passing a single parameter to a
constructor. Any number of parameters can be passed, as will be
illustrated later.
You will notice that when the three boxes are declared this time, we
supply a string constant as an actual parameter with each declaration
which is used by the constructor to assign the string pointer some data
to point to. When we call get_area( ) in lines 38 to 42, we get the
message displayed and the area returned. It would be prudent to put
these operations in separate methods since there is no apparent
connection between printing the message and calculating the area, but it
was written this way to illustrate that it can be done. What this really
says is that it is possible to have a method that has a side effect, the
message output to the monitor, and a return value, the area of the box.

An object with an internal pointer

The next program [OBJINTPT.CPP] is our first example program with
an embedded pointer which will be used for dynamic allocation of data.
#include <iostream.h>
class box {
int length;
int width;
int *point;
public:
box(void);

//Constructor

Page 818-27

Module 818

ENCAPSULATION OF OBJECTS AND METHODS IN

C++
void set(int new_length, int new_width, int stored_value);
int get_area(void) {return length * width;}
// Inline
int get_value(void) {return *point;}
// Inline
~box();
//Destructor
};
box::box(void)
//Constructor implementation
{
length = 8;
width = 8;
point = new int;
*point = 112;
}
// This method will set a box size to the input parameters
void box::set(int new_length, int new_width, int stored_value)
{
length = new_length;
width = new_width;
*point = stored_value;
}
box::~box(void)
//Destructor
{
length = 0;
width = 0;
delete point;
}
void main()
{
box small, medium, large;
//Three boxes to work with
small.set(5, 7, 177);
large.set(15, 20, 999);
cout << "The small box area is " << small.get_area() << "\n";
cout << "The medium box area is " << medium.get_area() << "\n";
cout << "The large box area is " << large.get_area() << "\n";
cout << "The small box stored value is " <<
small.get_value() << "\n";
cout << "The medium box stored value is " <<
medium.get_value() << "\n";
cout << "The large box stored value is " <<
large.get_value() << "\n";
}

In line 5 we declare a pointer to an integer variable, but it is only a

pointer: there is no storage associated with it. The constructor therefore
allocates an integer type variable on the heap for use with this pointer in
line 18. It should be clear to you that the three objects created in line 35
each contain a pointer which points into the heap to three different
locations. Each object has its own dynamically allocated variable for its
own private use. Moreover, each has a value of 112 stored in its
dynamically allocated data because line 18 stores that value in each of
the three locations, once for each call to the constructor.
In such a small program, there is no chance that we will exhaust the
heap, so no test is made for unavailable memory. In a real production
program, it would be essential to test that the value of the returned
pointer is not NULL to ensure that the data actually did get allocated.
The method named set( ) has three parameters associated with it and
the third parameter is used to set the value of the new dynamically
allocated variable. There are two messages passed, one to the small box
and one to the large box. As before, the medium box is left with its
default values.
Page 818-28

Module 818

ENCAPSULATION OF OBJECTS AND METHODS IN

C++
The three areas are displayed followed by the three stored values in the
dynamically allocated variables, and we finally have a program that
requires a destructor in order to be completely proper. If we simply
leave the scope of the objects as we do when we leave the main
program, we will leave the three dynamically allocated variables on the
heap with nothing pointing to them. They will be inaccessible and will
therefore represent wasted storage on the heap. For that reason, the
destructor is used to delete the variable which the pointer named point
is referencing as each object goes out of existence. In this case, lines 29
and 30 assign values to variables that will be automatically deleted.
Even though these lines of code really do no good, they are legal
statements.
Actually, in this particular case, the variables will be automatically
reclaimed when we return to the operating system because all program
cleanup is done for us at that time. If this were a function that was
called by another function however, the heap space would be wasted.
This is an illustration of good programming practice, that of cleaning up
after yourself when you no longer need some dynamically allocated
variables.
One other construct should be mentioned again, that of the inline
method implementations in line 9 and 10. As we have already seen,
inline functions can be used where speed is of the utmost in importance
since the code is assembled inline rather than by actually making a
method call. Since the code is defined as part of the declaration, the
system will assemble it inline, and a separate implementation for these
methods is not needed. If the inline code is too involved, the compiler is
allowed to ignore the inline request and will actually assemble it as a
separate method, but it will do it invisibly to you and will probably not
even tell you about it.
Remember that we are interested in using information hiding and inline
code prevents hiding of the implementation, putting it out in full view.
Many times you will be more interested in speeding up a program than
you are in hiding a trivial implementation. Since most inline methods are
trivial, you should feel free to use the inline code construct.

A dynamically allocated object

Examine the next program [OBJDYNAM.CPP] for our first look at a
dynamically allocated object.
#include <iostream.h>
class box {
int length;
int width;
public:
box(void);
//Constructor
void set(int new_length, int new_width);

Page 818-29

Module 818

ENCAPSULATION OF OBJECTS AND METHODS IN

C++
int get_area(void);
};
box::box(void)
//Constructor implementation
{
length = 8;
width = 8;
}
// This method will set a box size to the two input parameters
void box::set(int new_length, int new_width)
{
length = new_length;
width = new_width;
}
// This method will calculate and return the area of a box
instance
int box::get_area(void)
{
return (length * width);
}
void main()
{
box small, medium, large;
//Three boxes to work with
box *point;
//A pointer to a box
small.set(5, 7);
large.set(15, 20);
point = new box;
// Use the defaults supplied by the constructor
cout << "The small box area is " << small.get_area() << "\n";
cout << "The medium box area is " << medium.get_area() << "\n";
cout << "The large box area is " << large.get_area() << "\n";
cout << "The new box area is " << point->get_area() << "\n";
point->set(12, 12);
cout << "The new box area is " << point->get_area() << "\n";
delete point;
}

In line 30 we declare a pointer to an object of type box and since it is

only a pointer with nothing to point to, we dynamically allocate an
object for it in line 33, with the object being created on the heap just
like any other dynamically allocated variable. When the object is created
in line 33, the constructor is called automatically to assign values to the
two internal storage variables. Note that the constructor is not called
when the pointer is declared since there is nothing to initialise; it is
called when the object is allocated.
Reference to the components of the object are handled in much the
same way that structure references are made, through use of the pointer
operator as illustrated in lines 38 to 41. Of course you can use the
pointer dereferencing method without the arrow such as
(*point).set (12, 12);

as a replacement for line 39 but the arrow notation is much more

universal and should be used. Finally, the object is deleted in line 41 and
the program terminates. If there were a destructor for this class, it
would be called as part of the delete statement to clean up the object
prior to deletion.

Page 818-30

Module 818

ENCAPSULATION OF OBJECTS AND METHODS IN

C++
An object with a pointer to another object
The program below [OBJLIST.CPP] contains an object with an internal
reference to another object of its own class. This is the standard
structure used for a singly linked list and we will keep the use of it very
simple in this program.
#include <iostream.h>
class box {
int length;
int width;
box *another_box;
public:
box(void);
//Constructor
void set(int new_length, int new_width);
int get_area(void);
void point_at_next(box *where_to_point);
box *get_next(void);
};
box::box(void)
//Constructor implementation
{
length = 8;
width = 8;
another_box = NULL;
}
// This method will set a box size to the two input parameters
void box::set(int new_length, int new_width)
{
length = new_length;
width = new_width;
}
// This method will calculate and return the area of a box
instance
int box::get_area(void)
{
return (length * width);
}
// This method causes the pointer to point to the input parameter
void box::point_at_next(box *where_to_point)
{
another_box = where_to_point;
}
// This method returns the box the current one points to
box *box::get_next(void)
{
return another_box;
}
void main()
{
box small, medium, large;
//Three boxes to work with
box *box_pointer;
//A pointer to a box
small.set(5, 7);
large.set(15, 20);
cout << "The small box area is " << small.get_area() << "\n";
cout << "The medium box area is " << medium.get_area() << "\n";
cout << "The large box area is " << large.get_area() << "\n";
small.point_at_next(&medium);
medium.point_at_next(&large);
box_pointer = &small;
box_pointer = box_pointer->get_next();
cout << "The box pointed to has area " <<
box_pointer->get_area() << "\n";
}

The constructor contains the statement in line 17 which assigns the

pointer the value of NULL to initialise the pointer. This is a good idea
Page 818-31

Module 818

ENCAPSULATION OF OBJECTS AND METHODS IN

C++
for all of your programming: don't allow any pointer to point off into
space, but initialise all pointers to something. By assigning the pointer
within the constructor, you guarantee that every object of this class will
automatically have its pointer initialised. It will be impossible to
overlook the assignment of one of these pointers.
Two additional methods are declared in lines 9 and 10 with the one in
line 10 having a construct we have not yet mentioned. This method
returns a pointer to an object of the box class. As you are aware, you
can return a pointer to a struct in ANSI-C, and this is the parallel
construct in C++. The implementation in lines 36 to 39 returns the
pointer stored within the object. We will see how this is used when we
get to the actual program.
An extra pointer named box_pointer is declared in the main program for
use later and in line 50 we make the embedded pointer within the small
box point to the medium box, and in line 50 we make the embedded
pointer within the medium box point to the large box. We have
effectively generated a linked list with three elements. In line 52 we
make the extra pointer point to the small box. Continuing in line 53 we
use it to refer to the small box and update it to the value contained in
the small box which is the address of the medium box. We have
therefore traversed from one element of the list to another by sending a
message to one of the objects. If line 53 were repeated exactly as
shown, it would cause the extra pointer to refer to the large box, and
we would have traversed the entire linked list which is only composed
of three elements.

The keyword THIS

Another new keyword available in C++ is this. The word is defined
within any object as a pointer to the object in which it is contained. It is
implicitly declared as
class_name *this;

and is initialised to point to the object for which the member function is
invoked. This pointer is most useful when working with pointers and
especially with a linked list when you need to reference a pointer to the
object you are inserting into the list. The keyword this is available for
this purpose and can be used in any object. Actually the proper way to
refer to any variable within a list is through use of the predefined
pointer this, by writing this->variable_name, but the compiler assumes
the pointer is used, and we can simplify every reference by omitting the
pointer. The keyword this will be used in one of the larger example
programs later in this Module.

Page 818-32

Module 818

ENCAPSULATION OF OBJECTS AND METHODS IN

C++
A linked list of objects
The next example program [OBJLINK.CPP] is a complete example of a
linked list written in object-oriented notation.
#include <iostream.h>
class box {
int length;
int width;
box *another_box;
public:
box(void);
//Constructor
void set(int new_length, int new_width);
int get_area(void);
void point_at_next(box *where_to_point);
box *get_next(void);
};
box::box(void)
//Constructor implementation
{
length = 8;
width = 8;
another_box = NULL;
}
// This method will set a box size to the two input parameters
void box::set(int new_length, int new_width)
{
length = new_length;
width = new_width;
}
// This method will calculate and return the
// area of a box instance
int box::get_area(void)
{
return (length * width);
}
// This method causes the pointer to point
// to the input parameter
void box::point_at_next(box *where_to_point)
{
another_box = where_to_point;
}
// This method returns the box that this one points to
box *box::get_next(void)
{
return another_box;
}
void main()
{
box *start = NULL;
// Always points to the start of the list
box *temp;
// Working pointer
box *box_pointer;
// Used for box creation
// Generate the list
for (int index = 0 ; index < 10 ; index++ ) {
box_pointer = new box;
box_pointer->set(index + 1, index + 3);
if (start == NULL)
start = box_pointer;
// First element
else
temp->point_at_next(box_pointer);
// Additional element
temp = box_pointer;
}
// Print the list out
temp = start;
do {
cout << "The area is " << temp->get_area() << "\n";
temp = temp->get_next();
} while (temp != NULL);
// Delete the list

Page 818-33

Module 818

ENCAPSULATION OF OBJECTS AND METHODS IN

C++
temp = start;
do {
temp = temp->get_next();
delete start;
start = temp;
} while (temp != NULL);
}

This program is very similar to the last one; in fact it is identical until
we get to the main program. You will recall that in the last program the
only way we had to set or use the embedded pointer was through use of
the two methods named point_at_next() and get_next() which are listed
in lines 33 to 39 of the present program. We will use these to build up
our linked list then traverse and print the list. Finally, we will delete the
entire list to free the space on the heap.
In lines 44 to 46 we declare three pointers for use in the program. The
pointer named start will always point to the beginning of the list, but
temp will move down through the list as we create it. The pointer
named box_pointer will be used for the creation of each object. We
execute the loop in lines 48 to 57 to generate the list where line 50
dynamically allocates a new object of the box class and line 52 fills it
with nonsense data for illustration. If this is the first element in the list,
the start pointer is set to point to this element, but if elements already
exist, the last element in the list is assigned to point to the new element.
In either case, the temp pointer is assigned to point to the last element
of the list, in preparation for adding another element if there is another
element to be added.
In line 58 the pointer named temp is pointed to the first element and it is
used to increment its way through the list by updating itself in line 62
during each pass through the loop. When temp has the value of NULL,
which it gets from the last element of the list, we are finished traversing
the list.
Finally, we delete the entire list by starting at the beginning and deleting
one element each time we pass through the loop in lines 64 to 68.
A careful study of the program will reveal that it does indeed generate a
linked list of ten elements, each element being an object of class box.
The length of this list is limited by the practicality of how large a list we
desire to print out, but it could be lengthened to many thousands of
these simple elements provided you have enough memory available to
store them all. Once again, the success of the dynamic allocation is not
checked as it should be in a well-written program.

Nesting objects
Examine the next program [NESTING.CPP] for an example of nesting
classes which results in nested objects. A nested object could be
illustrated with your computer in a rather simple manner. The computer
Page 818-34

Module 818

ENCAPSULATION OF OBJECTS AND METHODS IN

C++
itself is composed of many items which work together but work entirely
differently, such as a keyboard, a disk drive, and a power supply. The
computer is composed of these very dissimilar items and it is desirable
to discuss the keyboard separately from the disk drive because they are
so different. A computer class could be composed of several objects
that are dissimilar by nesting the dissimilar classes within the computer
class.
If however, we wished to discuss disk drives, we may wish to examine
the characteristics of disk drives in general, then examine the details of
a hard disk, and the differences of floppy disks. This would involve
inheritance because much of the data about both drives could be
characterised and applied to the generic disk drive then used to aid in
the discussion of the other three. We will study inheritance in the next
Module, but for now we will look at the embedded or nested class.
#include <iostream.h>
class mail_info {
int shipper;
int postage;
public:
void set(int in_class, int in_postage)
{shipper = in_class; postage = in_postage; }
int get_postage(void) {return postage;}
};
class box {
int length;
int width;
mail_info label;
public:
void set(int l, int w, int s, int p) {
length = l;
width = w;
label.set(s, p); }
int get_area(void) {return length * width;}
};
void main()
{
box small, medium, large;
small.set(2, 4, 1, 35);
medium.set(5, 6, 2, 72);
large.set(8, 10, 4, 98);
cout << "The area is " << small.get_area() << "\n";
cout << "The area is " << medium.get_area() << "\n";
cout << "The area is " << large.get_area() << "\n";
}

This program contains a class named box which contains an object of

another class embedded within it in line 13, the mail_info class. This
object is available for use only within the class implementation of box
because that is where it is defined. The main program has objects of
class box defined but no objects of class mail_info, so the mail_info
class cannot be referred to in the main program. In this case, the
mail_info class object is meant to be used internally to the box class and
one example is given in line 18 where a message is sent to the label.set()
method to initialise the variables. Additional methods could be used as
needed, but these are given as an illustration of how they can be called.

Page 818-35

Module 818

ENCAPSULATION OF OBJECTS AND METHODS IN

C++
Of prime importance is the fact that there are never any objects of the
mail_info class declared directly in the main program, they are
inherently declared when the enclosing objects of class box are
declared. Of course objects of the mail_info class could be declared and
used in the main program if needed, but they are not in this example
program. In order to be complete, the box class should have one or
more methods to use the information stored in the object of the
mail_info class. Study this program until you understand the new
construct, then compile and execute it.
If the class and the nested classes require parameter lists for their
respective constructors an initialisation list can be given. This will be
discussed and illustrated later in this Module.

Exercise 7
Modify OBJDYNAM.CPP so that the objects small and medium are
pointers, and dynamically allocate them prior to their use.
Modify the loop (from line 47) in OBJLINK.CPP so that it strores up to
1000 elements in the list. (Remove the list output if necessary to speed
up the execution.) Add a test to display the amount of available memory
as the list is built, and to terminate list construction when this becomes
too small for a new list node to be added.

Page 818-36

Module 818

ENCAPSULATION OF OBJECTS AND METHODS IN

C++

Objective 8

After working through this section you should be able to list the
advantages of using operator overloading in C++
The example program below [OPOVERLD.CPP] contains examples of
overloading operators. This allows you to define a class of objects and
redefine the use of the normal operators. The end result is that objects
of the new class can be used in as natural a manner as the predefined
types. In fact, they seem to be a part of the language rather than your
own add-on.

#include <iostream.h>
class box {
int length;
int width;
public:
void set(int l, int w) {length = l; width = w;}
int get_area(void) {return length * width;}
// Add two boxes
friend box operator+(box a, box b);
// Add a constant to a box
friend box operator+(int a, box b);
// Multiply a box by a constant
friend box operator*(int a, box b); };
// Add two boxes' widths together
box operator+(box a, box b)
{
box temp;
temp.length = a.length;
temp.width = a.width + b.width;
return temp;
}
box operator+(int a, box b)
// Add a constant to a box
{
box temp;
temp.length = b.length;
temp.width = a + b.width;
return temp;
}
box operator*(int a, box b)
// Multiply a box by a constant
{
box temp;
temp.length = a * b.length;
temp.width = a * b.width;
return temp;
}
void main()
{
box small, medium, large;
box temp;
small.set(2, 4);
medium.set(5, 6);
large.set(8, 10);
cout << "The area is " << small.get_area() << "\n";
cout << "The area is " << medium.get_area() << "\n";
cout << "The area is " << large.get_area() << "\n";
temp = small + medium;
cout << "The new area is " << temp.get_area() << "\n";
temp = 10 + small;
cout << "The new area is " << temp.get_area() << "\n";
temp = 4 * large;
cout << "The new area is " << temp.get_area() << "\n";
}

Page 818-37

Module 818

ENCAPSULATION OF OBJECTS AND METHODS IN

C++
In this case we overload the + operator and the * operator, with the
declarations in lines 9 to 13, and the definitions in lines 16 to 35. The
methods are declared as friend functions so we can use the double
parameter functions as listed. If we did not use the friend construct, the
function would be a part of one of the objects and that object would be
the object to which the message was sent. Including the friend construct
allows us to separate this method from the object and call the method
with infix notation. Using this technique, it can be written as object1 +
object2 rather than object1.operator+(object2). Also, without the friend
construct we could not use an overloading with an int type variable for
the first parameter because we can not send a message to an integer
type variable such as int.operator+(object). Two of the three operator
overloadings use an int for the first parameter so it is necessary to
declare them as friend functions. There is no upper limit to the number
of overloadings for any given operator. Any number of overloadings
can be used provided the parameters are different for each particular
overloading.
The header in line 9 illustrates the first overloading where the +
operator is overloaded by giving the return type followed by the
keyword operator and the operator we wish to overload. The two
formal parameters and their types are then listed in the parentheses and
the normal function operations are given in the implementation of the
function in lines 22 to 28. You will notice that the implementation of
the friend functions are not actually a part of the class because the class
name is not prepended onto the method name in line 9. There is nothing
unusual about this implementation, it should be easily understood by
you at this point. For purposes of illustration, some silly mathematics
are performed in the method implementation, but any desired operations
can be done.
The biggest difference occurs where this method is called by using the
infix notation instead of the usual message sending format. Since the
variables small and medium are objects of the box class, the system will
search for a way to use the + operator on two objects of class box and
will find it in the overloaded operator+ method we have just discussed.
The operations within the method implementation can be anything we
need them to be, and they are usually much more meaningful than the
silly math included here.
In line 48 we ask the system to add an int type constant to an object of
class box, so the system finds the other overloading of the + operator
beginning in line 22 to perform this operation. In line 50 we ask the
system to use the * operator to do something to an int constant and an
object of class box, which it satisfies by finding the method in lines 29
to 35. Note that it would be illegal to attempt to use the * operator the
other way around, namely large * 4, since we did not define a method

Page 818-38

Module 818

ENCAPSULATION OF OBJECTS AND METHODS IN

C++
to use the two types in that order. Another overloading could be given
with reversed types, and we could use the reverse order in a program.
You will notice that when using operator overloading, we are also using
function name overloading since some of the function names are the
same. When we use operator overloading in this manner, we actually
make our programs look like the class is a natural part of the language
since it is integrated into the language so well. C++ is therefore an
extendible language and can be moulded to fit the mechanics of the
problem at hand.

Operator overloading caveats

Operator overloading seems particularly prone to misuse. The
overloading of operators is only available for classes, you cannot
redefine the operators for the predefined simple types. This would
probably be very silly anyway since the code could be very difficult to
read if you changed some of them around.
The logical and (&&) and the logical or (||) operators can be overloaded
for the classes you define, but they will not operate as short circuit
operators. All members of the logical construction will be evaluated
with no regard concerning the outcome. Of course the normal
predefined logical operators will continue to operate as short circuit
operators as expected, but not the overloaded ones.
If the increment (++) or decrement (--) operators are overloaded, the
system has no way of telling whether the operators are used as preincrement or post-increment (or pre-decrement or post-decrement)
operators. Which method is used is implementation-dependent, so you
should use them in such a way that it doesn't matter which is used.

Function overloading in a class

Examine the program below [FUNCOVER.CPP] for an example of
function name overloading within a class. In this program the
constructor is overloaded as well as one of the methods to illustrate
what can be done.
#include <iostream.h>
class many_names {
int length;
int width;
public:
many_names(void);
// Constructors
many_names(int len);
many_names(int len, int wid);
void display(void);
// Display functions
void display(int one);
void display(int one, int two);
void display(float number);
};

Page 818-39

Module 818

ENCAPSULATION OF OBJECTS AND METHODS IN

C++
many_names::many_names(void)
{
length = 8;
width = 8;
}
many_names::many_names(int len)
{
length = len;
width = 8;
}
many_names::many_names(int len, int wid)
{
length = len;
width = wid;
}
void many_names::display(void)
{
cout << "From void display function, area = " <<
length * width << "\n";
}
void many_names::display(int one)
{
cout << "From int display function, area = " <<
length * width << "\n";
}
void many_names::display(int one, int two)
{
cout << "From two int display function, area = " <<
length * width << "\n";
}
void many_names::display(float number)
{
cout << "From float display function, area = " <<
length * width << "\n";
}
void main()
{
many_names small, medium(10), large(12, 15);
int gross = 144;
float pi = 3.1415, payroll = 12.50;
small.display();
small.display(100);
small.display(gross,100);
small.display(payroll);
medium.display();
large.display(pi);
}

This program illustrates some of the uses of overloaded names and a

few of the rules for their use. You will recall that the function selected
is based on the number and types of the formal parameters only. The
type of the return value is not significant in overload resolution.
In this case there are three constructors. The constructor which is
actually called is selected by the number and types of the parameters in
the definition. In line 51 of the main program the three objects are
declared, each with a different number of parameters and inspection of
the results will indicate that the correct constructor was called based on
the number of parameters.
In the case of the other overloaded methods, the number and type of
parameters is clearly used to select the proper method. You will notice
that one method uses a single integer and another uses a single float

Page 818-40

Module 818

ENCAPSULATION OF OBJECTS AND METHODS IN

C++
type variable, but the system is able to select the correct one. As many
overloadings as desired can be used provided that all of the parameter
patterns are unique.
Actually, we have already used an overloaded operator extensively
without any problems. The cout operator works as an overloaded
function since the way it outputs data is a function of the type of its
input variable or the field we ask it to display. Many programming
languages have overloaded output functions so you can output any data
with the same function name.

Separate compilation
Separate compilation is available with C++ and it follows the rules for
ANSI-C separate compilation. As expected, separately compiled files
can be linked together. However, since classes are used to define
objects, the nature of C++ separate compilation is considerably different
from that used for ANSI-C. This is because the classes used to create
the objects are not considered as external variables, but as included
classes. This makes the overall program look different from a pure
ANSI-C program. Your programs will take on a different appearance as
you gain experience in C++.

Another practical example

In the last section we studied the date class, and now we will study a
simple time class. You should begin by studying the file below
[TIME.H] which will look very similar to the date class header.
// This is probably the minimum usable time class,
// but is intended as an illustration of a class rather
// than to build an all inclusive class for future use.
// Each student can develop his own to suit his own taste.
#ifndef TIME_H
#define TIME_H
class time_of_day {
protected:
int hour;
// 0 through 23
int minute;
// 0 through 59
int second;
// 0 through 59
static char format;
// Format to use for output
static char out_string[25];
// Format output area
public:
// Constructor - Set time to current time and format to 1
time_of_day(void);
time_of_day(int H) {hour = H; minute = 0; second = 0; };
time_of_day(int H, int M) {hour = H; minute = M; second = 0; };
time_of_day(int H, int M, int S)
{hour = H; minute = M; second = S; };
// Set the time to these input values
// return = 0 ---> data is valid
// return = 1 ---> something is out of range
int set_time(void);
int set_time(int hour_in);
int set_time(int hour_in, int minute_in);
int set_time(int hour_in, int minute_in, int second_in);
// Select string output format

Page 818-41

Module 818

ENCAPSULATION OF OBJECTS AND METHODS IN

C++
void set_time_format(int format_in) { format = format_in; };
// Return an ASCII-Z string depending on the stored format
//
format = 1
13:23:12
//
format = 2
13:23
//
format = 3
1:23 PM
char *get_time_string(void);
};
#endif

The only major difference in this class from the date class is the
overloaded constructors and methods. The program is a very practical
example that illustrates graphically that many constructor overloadings
are possible. The implementation for the time class is given below
[TIME.CPP].
#include <stdio.h>
// For the sprintf function
#include <time.h>
// For the time & localtime functions
#include "time.h"
// For the class header
char time_of_day::format;
// This defines the static data member
char time_of_day::out_string[25];
// This defines the string
// Constructor - Set time to current time and format to 1
time_of_day::time_of_day(void)
{
time_t time_date;
struct tm *current_time;
time_date = time(NULL);
current_time = localtime(&time_date);
hour = current_time->tm_hour;
minute = current_time->tm_min;
second = current_time->tm_sec;
format = 1;
}
// Set the time to these input values
// return = 0 ---> data is valid
// return = 1 ---> something out of range
int time_of_day::set_time(void)
{
return set_time(0, 0, 0);
};
int time_of_day::set_time(int H)
{
return set_time(H, 0, 0);
};
int time_of_day::set_time(int H, int M)
{
return set_time(H, M, 0);
};
int time_of_day::set_time
(int hour_in, int minute_in, int second_in)
{
int error = 0;
if (hour_in < 0) {
hour_in = 0;
error = 1;
} else if (hour_in > 59) {
hour_in = 59;
error = 1;
}
hour = hour_in;
if (minute_in < 0) {
minute_in = 0;
error = 1;
} else if (minute_in > 59) {
minute_in = 59;
error = 1;
}
minute = minute_in;

Page 818-42

Module 818

ENCAPSULATION OF OBJECTS AND METHODS IN

C++
if (second_in < 0) {
second_in = 0;
error = 1;
} else if (second_in > 59) {
second_in = 59;
error = 1;
}
second = second_in;
return error;
}
// Return an ASCII-Z string depending on the stored format
//
format = 1
13:23:12
//
format = 2
13:23
//
format = 3
1:23 PM
char *time_of_day::get_time_string(void)
{
switch (format) {
case 2: sprintf(out_string, "%2d:%02d", hour, minute);
break;
case 3: if (hour == 0)
sprintf(out_string, "12:%02d AM", minute);
else if (hour < 12)
sprintf(out_string, "%2d:%02d AM", hour, minute);
else if (hour == 12)
sprintf(out_string, "12:%02d PM", minute);
else
sprintf(out_string, "%2d:%02d PM", hour - 12, minute);
break;
case 1:
// Fall through to default so the default is also 1
default: sprintf(out_string, "%2d:%02d:%02d",
hour, minute, second);
break;
}
return out_string;
}

It should be pointed out that three of the four overloadings actually call
the fourth so that the code did not have to be repeated four times. This
is a perfectly good coding practice and illustrates that other member
functions can be called from within the implementation.
The example program below [USETIME.CPP] is an application that
uses the time class in a rudimentary way.
#include <iostream.h>
#include "date.h"
#include "time.h"
void main()
{
date today;
time_of_day now, lunch(12, 15);
cout << "This program executed on " << today.get_date_string() <<
" at " << now.get_time_string() << "\n";
cout << "We are planning lunch at " << lunch.get_time_string() <<
" tomorrow.\n";
lunch.set_time(13);
cout << "We decided to move lunch to "<< lunch.get_time_string()
<< " due to a late meeting.\n";
}

It will be to your advantage to completely understand the practical

example programs given at the end of the last section and the end of
this section. As mentioned above, we will use the time class and the
date class as the basis for both single and multiple inheritance in the
next Module.
Page 818-43

Module 818

ENCAPSULATION OF OBJECTS AND METHODS IN

C++
Exercise 8
List the potential problems to be considered when using operator and
function overloading in C++.
Write a short program that uses both the date and time classes to add a
basic time and date stamp to simple operations (such as calendar or
diary).

Page 818-44