MSc in Mathematics and Finance, Imperial College London Dr Robert Nürnberg

Computing in C++
Part II : Object Oriented Programming in C++
Dr Robert Nürnberg

1 What is OOP?
Object oriented programming is a fairly new way to approach the task of programming. It supersedes the
so called procedural or structured programming languages like Algol, Pascal or C, that have been around
since the 1960s. The essence of structured programming is to reduce a program into smaller parts and
then code these elements more or less independently from each other.
Although structured programming has yielded excellent results when applied to moderately complex
programs, it fails when a program reaches a certain size. To allow for more complex programs to be
written, the new approach of OOP was invented. OOP, while allowing you to use the best ideas from
structured programming, encourages you to decompose a problem into related subgroups, where each
subgroup becomes a self-contained object that contains its own instructions and data that relate to that
object. In this way complexity is reduced, reusability is increased and the programmer can manage larger
programs more easily.
All OOP languages, including C++, share the following three capabilities:
• Encapsulation – the ability to define a new type and a set of operations on that type, without
revealing the representation of the type.
• Inheritance – the ability to create new types that inherit properties from existing types.
• Polymorphism – the ability to use one name for two or more related but technically different
purposes; “one interface, multiple methods.”

1.1 Recommended books and sites

• Daniel Duffy, Introduction to C++for Financial Engineers : An Object-oriented Approach, 2006
• Steve Oualline, Practical C++ Programming, 1995
• Herbert Schildt, Teach yourself C++, 1992
• Jesse Liberty, Teach yourself C++ in 24 hours, 1999
• Bruce Eckel, Thinking in C++, Online at www.mindview.net/Books/TICPP/ThinkingInCPP2e.html
• Bjarne Stroustrup, The C++ Programming Language, 1997 (technical)
• www.research.att.com/∼ bs/C++.html (Stroustrup: C++)
• www.cplusplus.com
• www.cppreference.com

1.2 Compilers
• Windows: · Microsoft Visual C++ .NET with Integrated Development Environment (IDE)
· Borland C++ compiler, free version without IDE
· GNU C++ compiler (g++) as part of Cygwin, without IDE
· Dev-C++ – free compiler/IDE that is GNU compatible
• Linux: · GNU C++ compiler (g++) – part of any distribution
· Intel C++ compiler (icc) – free for students
· Code::Blocks – IDE only, also available for Windows

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2 Revision
Before we embark on the topic of object oriented programming, let’s remind ourselves of some other
important features of C++.

2.1 “Hello World!” revisited

In C++ this standard example should look like
#include <iostream>
using namespace std;

int main() {
cout << "Hello World!" << endl;
return 0;
}
The first two lines of the above example show the new ANSI-C++ compliant way to include the standard
C++ libraries. Although many compilers still support the old style, eventually all C++ compilers will only
accept the ANSI standard.
Note that without the second line the code would have to look something like
#include <iostream>

int main() {
std::cout << "Hello World!" << std::endl;
return 0;
}
See §8.1 below for further details on namespaces.

2.2 Using C header files

All of the old C standard header files, like stdlib.h, math.h, etc. can still be used. This should be done
as follows.
#include <iostream>
#include <cmath> // was: math.h in C
using namespace std;

int main() {
cout << "exp(1.0) = " << exp(1.0) << endl;
return 0;
}
For more details on the ANSI-C++ way to include header files from the standard library visit
www.cplusplus.com/doc/ansi/hfiles.html.

2.3 Macros
The C/C++ compiler evaluates certain preprocessing directives before actually starting to compile a
source code. These preprocessing directives are lines in your program that start with #. An example is
the #include statement, which tells the compiler what kind of system calls and libraries you want to use
in your program.
A macro is another preprocessing directive. In its simplest form, a macro is just an abbreviation. It is a
name which stands for a fragment of code. Usually, this will be some specific constant, such as Pi and
DEBUG in the example below. Before you can use a macro, you must define it explicitly with the #define
directive. It is followed by the name of macro and then the code it should be an abbreviation for.
Macros can also be defined to take arguments. In this case, any expansion you define for the macro, will
be applied with the arguments substituted by the values you are giving. The function macros SQR() and
MAX() in the example below demonstrate the usage.
Finally, you can also use conditional directives that allow a part of the program to be ignored during
compilation, on some conditions. A conditional can test either an arithmetic expression or whether a
name is defined as a macro. Check the usage of #if, #else, #endif, and #ifdef, #ifndef in the example
below.

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#include <iostream>
using namespace std;

#define SQR(a) ((a)*(a))

#define MAX(a,b) ((a) > (b) ? (a) : (b))
#ifndef Pi
#define Pi 3.1415926535897932384626433832795028841971
#endif
#define DEBUG 1

int main() {

#ifdef MAX
if (MAX(2.0,3.4) > 2.5) cout << "Square of pi is: " << SQR(Pi) << endl;
#endif

#if DEBUG
cout << "Debugging switched on." << endl;
cout << " --- " << __FILE__ << " line " << __LINE__ << "--- Compiled on "
<< __DATE__ << "." << endl;
#else
cout << "Debugging switched off." << endl;
#endif
return 0;
}
Note that the example also uses some standard predefined macros. They are available with the same
meanings regardless of the machine or operating system on which you are using C/C++. Their names all
start and end with double underscores, e.g. __FILE__, __LINE__ and __DATE__. More information on
the C/C++ preprocessor can be found at doc.ddart.net/c/gcc/cpp toc.html.

2.4 Enumerations
As in C, enumerations provide a convenient way to define variables that have only a small set of meaningful
values. Here is a simple example.
enum colour {red, green, blue, black};
colour foreground = black;

2.5 Strings
C++ may use the C string functions, where a string is represented by a char*, but they rely on a null
termination and proper memory allocation to hold the string. The C++ string class attempts to simplify
string manipulation by automating much of the memory allocation and management.
#include <iostream>
#include <string>
using namespace std;

int main() {
string a("abcd efg");
string b = "xyz ijk";
string c = a + b; // concatenation
cout << "First character of ’" << c << "’ is : " << c[0] << endl; // as in C
return 0;
}

2.6 Signatures of functions

In C++, in contrast to C, it is possible that two different functions share exactly the same name. That
is because in C++ a function is identified by its signature which comprises both the function’s name and
the list of arguments it takes. Hence the following code is perfectly fine.

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#include <iostream>
using namespace std;

void add_some(int *i) { (*i) += 3; }

void add_some(double *x) { (*x) += 1.5; }

int main() {
int a(1);
double b(1.23);
add_some(&a); add_some(&b);
cout << "a = " << a << ", b = " << b << endl; // a = 4, b = 2.73
return 0;
}
This feature of C++ is also referred to as function overloading. More on that in §4.

2.7 Passing variables to functions

2.7.1 Reference vs. pointers
Passing a variable to a function by reference or by pointer is essentially the same thing. For instance,
the following two functions do exactly the same.
#include <iostream>
using namespace std;

void add_one_pt(double *x) { ++(*x); }

void add_one_rf(double &x) { ++x; }

int main() {
double a(1.23), b(0.0);
add_one_pt(&a);
add_one_rf(b);
cout << "a = " << a << ", b = " << b << endl;
return 0;
}
However, there are times when we have to use pointers in order to pass a variable to a function. In
particular, if we cannot be sure that the referred to variable will always be defined, we have to pass it
via a pointer. Here is a simple example of such an instance.
#include <iostream>
using namespace std;

void execute(void (*f)()) {

if (f != NULL) f();
else cout << "Nothing to execute!" << endl;
}

void print() {
cout << "Hello World!" << endl;
}

int main() {
void (*p)() = print;
execute(NULL);
execute(p);
return 0;
}

2.7.2 Reference vs. value

When we do not want to change the value of a variable that is given as an argument to a function, we
usually pass it to the function by value. This causes the function to create a local copy of the passed
variable. When passing large data structures this is usually undesirable. A way out is to pass the variable

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by reference using the keyword const. This ensures that the compiler will not allow any change to the
passed variable within the function. The following two functions demonstrate the two concepts.
#include <iostream>
using namespace std;

void print_by_val(double x) { cout << x << endl; }

void print_by_ref(const double &x) { cout << x << endl; }

int main() {
double p = 3.14;
print_by_val(p); print_by_ref(p);
return 0;
}

2.7.3 Keyword const

Similar to the above usage of const in connection with passing arguments by reference, it can be employed
when passing arguments by pointers as well.

2.7.4 Default arguments

C++ offers the possibility to implement default arguments for functions, in case that they are called with
less parameters than originally specified. Here is a simple example.
#include <iostream>
using namespace std;

void print(int i = 10, int j = 5) { cout << i << " " << j << endl; }

int main () {
print(2); // ’2 5’
return 0;
}
Note that all default parameters must be to the right of any parameters that do not have defaults. Also,
once you define a default parameter, all the following parameters have to have a default as well.

2.8 File input and output

Input and output from and to a file needs the header file fstream and is similar to using cin and cout.
E.g.
#include <fstream>
using namespace std;

int main() {
ofstream fout("output.txt");
fout << "Hello World!" << endl;
fout.close();
return 0;
}

3 Objects
The term object in C++ refers to an instance of a class. In the example below, studlist[0] is an instance
of the struct student, where we have noted that a struct (as known from C) is simply a class with
special properties, see §3.2 for details.
The support for classes is the most significant difference between C and C++. A class is essentially an
abstract data type. It is a collection of data together with functions that operate on the data. We will
refer to these as member data and member functions of a class, respectively.
By declaring a class we can create a new data type that, if we are careful, is as powerful as any of the
basic types.

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We start our considerations with a simpler concept known from C.

3.1 Structures
Structures allow us to bundle data that naturally belong together into one object. E.g.
#include <iostream>
#include <string>
using namespace std;

struct student {
string name, firstname;
int year;
};

int main() {
int N;
cout << "Number of students: "; cin >> N;
student *studlist = new student[N];
for (int i=0; i<N; ++i) {
cin >> studlist[i].name >> studlist[i].firstname >> studlist[i].year;
}
// etc
return 0;
}
Note that a struct defines a type that can be used (almost) as freely as any of the basic types, such as
double, int, bool etc. In particular, we can pass variables of this newly defined type to functions, use
references and pointers to and declare arrays with these variables.

3.1.1 Pointers to structures

At times it may be preferable to use (arrays of) pointers to structures. In this case the main() program
above would have to be changed to something like
int main() {
int N;
cout << "Number of students: "; cin >> N;
student **studlist = new student* [N];
for (int i=0; i<N; ++i) {
studlist[i] = new student;
cin >> studlist[i]->name >> studlist[i]->firstname >> studlist[i]->year;
}
// etc
return 0;
}
Observe that here the members of a struct are accessed via e.g. pointer->firstname, whereas before
we used variable.firstname.

3.2 Classes – private and public members

As mentioned earlier, classes and structures are almost the same. In fact, the only difference is that by
default the members of a structure are accessible from the outside via the . and -> operators. In a class,
on the other hand, the members are by default hidden within the class and cannot be accessed from the
outside. We say that the members of a class are declared private by default. However, if we want to, we
can declare members of a class to be public.
Hence the struct student in §3.1 can equivalently be defined as
class student {
public:
string name, firstname;
int year;
};

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Nevertheless, it is somewhat bad programming practice to declare member data to be public. For a safe
and easy to update code one should always declare these as private.
But if the private members of a class are not accessible outside the class, we have to find a way to change
and inspect their values. This can be done with the help of functions that have access to the member
data and are themselves declared inside the class.

3.3 Methods
Member functions of a class are also referred to as methods. We have come across an instance of this
already during file input and output, cf. §2.8, where the line fout.close(); called the member function
close() for the instance fout of the class ofstream.
If we make the member data of our student class private, we should provide functions to create and print
the data, say. The declaration of the class would then look as follows.
class student {
string name, firstname;
int year;
public:
void create(string n, string fn, int y);
void print();
};
Observe that the member data is declared private, since this is the default setting for a class.
So far we have only declared the new member functions. Before we can actually use them, we have to
give their definitions. This can be done as follows.
void student::create(string n, string fn, int y) {
name = n; firstname = fn; year = y;
}
void student::print() {
cout << name << ", " << firstname << " (YEAR " << year << ")" << endl;
}
Note the usage of the scope operator :: in order to define the member functions.
Here is an example of how to use the newly defined methods.
int main() {
student s1;
s1.create("Smith", "Alan", 1);
s1.print();
return 0;
}
The big advantage of defining all the member data as private is that firstly we can easily trace an error if
something goes wrong, since the only place where the data is changed is in some of the member functions.
And secondly, it is very easy to enrich and modify the class later on. For example, we could choose to
include a variable address in the class. All we have to do in order to make sure that this new variable
is always properly initialized in our program is to change the create method to something like
void student::create(string n, string fn, int y) {
name = n; firstname = fn; year = y; address = "unknown";
}
and maybe provide another create method to initialize all four variables, e.g.
void student::create(string n, string fn, int y, string a) {
name = n; firstname = fn; year = y; address = a;
}

3.4 Constructors
In order to properly initialize an object, C++ allows to define a constructor function that is called each
time an object of that class is created. A constructor function has the same name as the class of which
it is a part and has no return type. On recalling default arguments from §2.7.4, the constructor for the
original student class can be defined as follows.

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OOP in C++ Dr Robert Nürnberg

class student {
string name, firstname;
int year;
public:
student(string n = "unknown", string fn = "unkown", int y = 1) {
name = n; firstname = fn; year = y;
}
void print();
};

3.4.1 Copy constructors

A constructor that takes as its only argument an object of its own class is called copy constructor. It
is also used whenever a parameter is passed by value and when an object is returned by a function. If
there is no copy constructor defined for the class, C++ uses the default built-in copy constructor, which
creates a bit wise copy of the object. Hence one only needs to define this special constructor if the class
has a pointer to dynamically allocated memory.
The declaration of the copy constructor in the case of the student class would have to look as follows.
class student {
public:
student(const student &s);
// etc
};
Observe that we have to pass the parameter by reference, since otherwise a copy of the argument would
have to be made, which would invoke the copy constructor, for which another copy would have to be
made . . . etc. Note also that we used the keyword const to ensure that the argument is not changed
inside the function.

3.5 Destructors
The complement of a constructor is a destructor. This function is called when an object is destroyed,
i.e. for local variables when they go out of scope and for global variables when the program ends. One
only really needs to specify a destructor for classes that have a pointer to dynamically allocated memory.
The destructor function has the name of the class preceded with a ~. It has no return type and takes no
parameters.
Here is an example.
class array {
double *a;
int len;
public:
array(int l = 0) { len = l; a = new double[len]; } // constructor
~array() { delete[] a; } // destructor
};

3.6 The this pointer

C++ contains a special pointer that is called this. this is a pointer that is automatically passed to any
member function when it is called, and it is a pointer to the object that generates the call. E.g. given the
statement foo.bar(), the function bar() is automatically passed a pointer to foo, which is the object
that generates the call. This pointer is referred to as this.
Hence an equivalent definition of the function student::print() from §3.3 is
void student::print() {
cout << this->name << ", " << this->firstname << " (YEAR " << this->year << ")" << endl;
}
Of course, there is no reason why one should use the this pointer as shown here, because the shorthand
form is much easier. However, the this pointer has several uses, including aiding in overloading operators.
See e.g. §4.4 for more details.

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3.7 Keyword const

When passing arguments by value, or by using the keyword const as described in §2.7.3, to a method
that possibly calls other methods, one has to tell C++ that these methods will not change the affected
argument. To do this one has to insert the keyword const in the methods’ declarations. Here is a short
example.
class myclass {
int a;
public:
void showvalues(const myclass &A) { this->print(); A.print(); }
void print() const { cout << a << endl; } // const needed!
};

3.8 Classes inside classes

Apart from member data and member functions, classes can also define their own data types. These new
class definitions, inside the given class, can then be used by the class’s member functions as well as from
outside the class. In the latter case, one has to use the scope operator. See the following example for
details.
#include <iostream>
using namespace std;

class myclass {
int a;
public:
void print() const { cout << a << endl; }
class local_type {
double t;
public:
local_type(double x) { t = x; }
void print() const { cout << "Local type: " << t << endl; }
};
void print() const { cout << a << endl; }
};

int main() {
myclass::local_type z(2.3);
z.print();
return 0;
}
Note that the same access restriction for member data and member functions also applies to classes
defined inside other classes. I.e. these classes can only be used from outside the class in which they are
defined, if they were declared as public.

3.9 Friend functions

There will be times when the programmer wants a function to have access to the private members of a
class without that function actually being a member of that class. To this end, C++ supports friend
functions. A friend is not a member of a class but still has access to its private elements. Since a friend
function is neither private nor public, it can be declared anywhere in the class definition. The following
example demonstrates the syntax as well as how to make a function friend of more than one class.
class classB;

class classA {
int a;
friend bool is_equal(const classA &, const classB &);
};

class classB {
int b;
friend bool is_equal(const classA &, const classB &);

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};

bool is_equal(const classA &A, const classB &B) { return (A.a == B.b); }
As a general rule of thumb, use member functions where possible, and friend functions only where
necessary. In much the same way as you should make data and methods of your classes private where
possible, and public where necessary.

3.10 Header files

In large programming projects it is often necessary to make use of header files. Usually, the header file
will include all the information, that other parts of the project need to know in order to use certain
functions and classes. Including a header file with the #include preprocessing directive, followed by the
name of the header file in inverted commas, is like copying and pasting the contents of the header file
into the C++ source file. Below you can find a simple example.

Contents of "script_header.h" Contents of "script_header.cc"

#ifndef SCRIPT_HEADER_H #include <iostream>
#define SCRIPT_HEADER_H #include "script_header.h"
using namespace std;
class A {
int a; A::A(int i) { a = i; }
public: void A::print() const { cout << a << endl; check(); }
A(int = 0); void A::check() const { if (a==5) cout << "5!" << endl; }
void print() const;
private: int main() {
void check() const; A z(2),y(5);
}; z.print(); y.print();
#endif // SCRIPT_HEADER_H return 0;
}
Note that the macro definition inside the header file prevents the class to be defined twice, in case the
header file is included in more than one source file. Note furthermore, that a header file usually only
provides the declaration of member functions, whereas the actual implementation takes places in the C++
source file.

3.11 Strings revisited

Now that we are familiar with the concept of class member functions, we can have another look at the C++
string class. In §2.5 we already saw how to use the basic features of the C++ string class. In the following
program we demonstrate the use of some other useful member functions of this class. For further details
visit e.g. www.cppreference.com/cppstring.html.
#include <iostream>
#include <string>
using namespace std;
int main() {
string f(" Leading and trailing blanks ");
cout << "String f : " << f << endl;
cout << "String length : " << f.length() << endl;
cout << "String f : " << f.append("ZZZ") << endl;
cout << "String length : " << f.length() << endl;
cout << "substr(5,9) : " << f.substr(5,9) << endl;
cout << "assign(\"xyz\",0,3) : " << f.assign("xyz",0,3) << endl;
cout << "insert(1,\"abc\") : " << f.insert(1,"abc ") << endl;

string g("abc abc abd abc");

cout << "String g : " << g << endl;
cout << "replace(12,1,\"xyz\") : " << g.replace(12,1,"xyz") << endl;
cout << "replace(4,3,\"xyz\",2): " << g.replace(4,3,"xyz",2) << endl;
cout << "replace(4,3,\"ijk\",1): " << g.replace(4,3,"ijk",1) << endl;
cout << "find(\"abd\",1) : " << g.find("abd",1) << endl;
cout << "find(\"xyzb\") : " << g.find("xyzb") << endl;

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return 0;
}
String f : Leading and trailing blanks
String length : 37
String f : Leading and trailing blanks ZZZ
String length : 40
substr(5,9) : eading an
assign("xyz",0,3) : xyz
The above code produces the following output: insert(1,"abc") : xabc yz .
String g : abc abc abd abc
replace(12,1,"xyz") : abc abc abd xyzbc
replace(4,3,"xyz",2): abc xy abd xyzbc
replace(4,3,"ijk",1): abc iabd xyzbc
find("abd",1) : 5
find("xyzb") : 9

A further important member function is string::c_str() which returns a pointer to a character array
with the same characters as the string that generates the call. This method is needed if you want to use
some “older” library routines such as sscanf.

4 Overloading
As already indicated in §2.6 and §2.7.4, in C++ it is possible to define several functions with the same
name, provided that the type of their arguments or the number of the arguments they take differ. After
classes, this is perhaps the next most important feature of C++.

4.1 Pointers to overloaded functions

Sometimes it might be necessary to pass the address of an overloaded function to a pointer. E.g. when
passing a function as a parameter to another function. The way to tell C++ which function’s address we
would like to access is to include the list of parameters that the function takes into the definition of the
pointer. Below is a simple example.
#include <iostream>
using namespace std;

void print(int i) { cout << "i = " << i << endl; }

void print(double a, double b) { cout << "a = " << a << ", b = " << b << endl; }

int main() {
void (*p)(int) = print;
void (*q)(double, double) = print;
p(2); // ’i = 2’
q(1.0,2.0); // ’a = 1, b = 2’
return 0;
}

4.2 Overloading constructors

As we have seen in §3.4, a very common example of function overloading is to provide several different
versions of a class’s constructor. This is only natural, since a class needs a constructor for each way that
an object of that class is declared in a program. In particular, when dynamically allocating memory for
objects of a class, one has to define a default constructor that takes no arguments.
Here is an example for the student class.
student *p;
p = new student; // calls student::student();
p -> print(); // ’unknown, unkown (YEAR 1)’

delete p;

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4.3 Operator overloading

In C++, operators like +, *, <, >>, [] and () are just a very special type of functions. However, when
overloading operators some special rules apply. In particular, it is not possible to change the number
of arguments an operator takes. Furthermore, it is not possible to redefine an operator for the basic
types. I.e. when overloading an operator at least one of its arguments must be a newly defined class (or
enumeration).
Hence an overloaded operator never loses its original meaning. Instead, it gains additional meaning
relative to the class for which it is defined. Furthermore, even if an operator is overloaded, it maintains
its precedence over other operators and its associativity.
When overloading an operator relative to a newly defined class, where an object of that class appears
on the left hand side of the operator, there are two ways of defining the operator function. Either the
operator is overloaded by a member function of the class, or the operator is defined as a global function.
In the first case the operator function has to be passed one parameter less than the operator takes, since
the call of the operator function will always be generated by the object on the left hand side of the
operator. In the second case, the operator function takes as many parameters as the operator itself.
Moreover, in general this global operator function will be declared as a friend of the class it is defined
for, cf. §4.7.
Finally, operators may not have default parameters.
In the following example, the [] subscript operator of a class is overloaded.
#include <iostream>
using namespace std;

class A {
public:
void operator[] (int i) { // overloading A[int]
cout << "You want: [" << i << "]." << endl;
}
};

int main() {
A a;
a[5]; // ’You want: [5].’
return 0;
}
Although it is permissible to have an operator function perform virtually any action (see example above),
it is highly advisable to stick to operations similar to the operator’s traditional use.

4.4 Overloading binary operators

When a member operator function overloads a binary operator, the function will have only one parameter.
This parameter will receive the object that is on the right hand side of the operator. The object on the
left hand side is the object that generated the call to the operator function.
Here is an example of overloading the assignment operator=().
student &student::operator=(const student &s) {
name = s.name; firstname = s.firstname; year = s.year;
return *this;
}
Note the use of the this pointer and the fact that the operator=() function returns a reference to the
object that something is assigned to. This is done in order to allow multiple assignments like a = b = c;,
which are syntactically correct in C++.
Observe that for basic classes like student the assignment operator is already well defined, similarly to
the copy constructor (cf. §3.4.1). This is due to the fact that the built-in assignment operator performs
a bit-wise copy operation. Hence in practice one only needs to overload the assignment operator if the
class has a pointer to memory that is dynamically allocated.
The following program demonstrates that it can be important to differentiate between the object that
generates the call, and the object that is passed as a parameter. In this example the operators -= and -
are overloaded.

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OOP in C++ Dr Robert Nürnberg

#include <iostream>
using namespace std;

class Point {
double x,y;
public:
Point(double a = 0, double b = 0) { x = a; y = b; }
Point &operator-= (const Point &p) { x -= p.x; y -= p.y; return *this; }
Point operator- (const Point &p) { Point r(x-p.x,y-p.y); return r; }
void print() { cout << x << "," << y << endl; }
};

int main() {
Point p(1.0,2.0), q(0.0,0.5), r;
r = p -= q;
p.print(); // ’1,1.5’

r = p - q;
r.print(); // ’1,1’
return 0;
}
Observe that the operator-= () function could have been defined to return void instead. But then
statements like r = p -= q; would no longer work.

4.4.1 Overloading relational operators

A special family of binary operators are the relational and logical operators. Naturally, they too can be
overloaded for newly defined classes. Here is an example.
class Point {
double x,y;
public:
bool operator< (const Point &p) const {
return (x < p.x || (x == p.x && y < p.y));
}
// etc
};
The C++ compiler treats the relational operators like any other binary operator. In particular, overloading
the operator < does not give meaning to the operators >, <= and >=. That means that if you want to
make use of them, you have to overload them individually.

4.5 Overloading unary operators

Overloading a unary operator is similar to overloading a binary operator. The only difference is that there
is only one operand to deal with. Hence when overloading a unary operator using a member function,
the function takes no parameters.
Some unary operators have both a prefix and a postfix version. In order to differentiate between these
two when overloading the operator, the postfix version of the operator is defined as if it takes a (dummy)
parameter of type int.
In the following example you can see how to overload unary operators, and in particular how to define
both the prefix and postfix version of the ++ operator.
#include <iostream>
using namespace std;

class Point {
double x,y;
public:
Point &operator++ () { ++x; ++y; return *this; } // prefix
Point operator++ (int) { Point r(x,y); ++x; ++y; return r; } // postfix
Point operator- () { Point r(-x,-y); return r; }
// etc

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OOP in C++ Dr Robert Nürnberg

};

int main() {
Point p(0,0);
cout << p++ << endl; // ’(0,0)’ // postfix
cout << p << endl; // ’(1,1)’

cout << ++p << endl; // ’(2,2)’ // prefix

cout << p << endl; // ’(2,2)’

cout << -p << endl; // ’(-2,-2)’ // always prefix

cout << p << endl; // ’(2,2)’
return 0;
}

4.6 Overloading the () operator

The () function call operator allows you to define functions as freely as you can outside classes. The
function call operator can take any number of parameters and return any type you want. Here are two
simple examples.
#include <iostream>
using namespace std;

class Point {
double x,y;
public:
void operator() (double x) {
cout << "Function called with double x=" << x << "." << endl;
}
int operator() () {
cout << "Function called with ()." << endl;
return 1;
}
// etc
};

int main() {
Point p(0,0);
p(2.0); // ’Function called with double x=2.’
int i = p(); // ’Function called with ().’
return 0;
}

4.7 Using friend operators

It is also possible to overload an operator relative to a class by using a (global) friend rather than a
member function. In this case, a binary operator has to be passed both operands explicitly, while a
unary operator has to be passed the single operand.
Friend operator functions are usually used when defining operations involving built-in types, where the
built-in type is on the left hand side of the operator. Hence the call to the operator function cannot be
generated by an object of your newly defined class. The most common example is to overload the inserter
operator <<, where usually an object of type ostream is on the left hand side of the operator. See e.g.
the following example.
#include <iostream>
using namespace std;

class Point {
friend ostream &operator<< (ostream &os, const Point &p);
friend Point operator- (const double &x, const Point &p);
// etc
};

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OOP in C++ Dr Robert Nürnberg

ostream &operator<< (ostream &os, const Point &p) {

os << "(" << p.x << "," << p.y << ")";
return os;
}

Point operator- (const double &x, const Point &p) {

Point r(x-p.x, -p.y);
return r;
}

int main() {
Point z(0.5,1.5), r;
r = 2.0 - z;
cout << r << endl; // ’(1.5,-1.5)’
return 0;
}
Note, however, that it is not really necessary to use friend operators. See the example in §5.5 for a way
to keep the private member data of a class really private.

5 Inheritance
Inheritance is one of the most important features of C++. It allows classes to inherit properties from
another class and hence enables you to build a hierarchy of classes, moving from the most general one to
the most specific one.
When one class inherits another, it uses this general form:
class derived_class_name : access base_class_name {
// etc
}
Here, access is one of three keywords: public, private, or protected. The access specifier determines
how elements of the base class are inherited by the derived class. When the access specifier is public,
all public members of the base become public members of the derived class. If the access specifier is
private, however, all public members of the base become private members of the derived class. In either
case, all private members of the base remain private to it and are inaccessible by the derived class.
Here is a simple example.
class base {
public:
int a;
void print() { cout << a << endl; }
};

class sub : public base {

int b;
public:
void print() { cout << a << "," << b << endl; }
void printbase() { base::print(); }
};
In this example we added the data b to the base definition of the class and redefined the print() member
function. Observe the usage of the scope operator :: to relate to a base class function with the same
name as a (new) function in the derived class.
Inheritance from more than one parent class is possible, but is not covered in this course.

5.1 Protected members

To allow for private members in the base class that will be private and accessible in the derived class, the
access specifier protected is provided. It is equivalent to the private specifier with the sole exception
that protected members of a base class are accessible to members of any class derived from that base.
Hence the full general form of a class declaration looks something like this:

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OOP in C++ Dr Robert Nürnberg

class class_name {
// private members
protected: // optional
// protected members
public:
// public members
}
How members of the base class can be accessed in the derived class is shown in the following table.

access level base class members

public protected private
: public public protected inaccessible
: protected protected protected inaccessible
: private private private inaccessible

Table 1: Accessibility of base class members in derived class.

5.2 Constructors, destructors and inheritance

When a base and derived class both have constructor and destructor functions, the constructor functions
are executed in order of derivation. The destructor functions are executed in reverse order. I.e. the base
class constructor is executed before the constructor in the derived class. The reverse is true for destructor
functions.
Furthermore, it is possible for the derived class constructor to pass arguments to the base class constructor.
This is done in the following fashion.
class base {
protected:
int a;
public:
base(int i) { a = i; }
void print() { cout << a << endl; }
};

class sub : public base {

int b;
public:
sub(int i, int j) : base(i) { b = j; } // calls base constructor
void print() { cout << a << "," << b << endl; }
};
Note that data members that are inherited from the base class will always be initialized through the base
class constructor. This guarantees that even data that is inaccessible in the derived class (cf. §5.1) is
properly initialized when an object of the derived class is created.

5.3 Pointers to derived classes

In C++, a pointer declared as a pointer to a base class can also be used to point to any class derived from
that base. For example, with the above definitions of base and sub, the following statements are correct:
base *p; // base class pointer
base b(1);
sub s(1,2);

p = &b; // p points to base object

p = &s; // p points to derived object
Although you can use a base pointer to point to a derived object, you can access only those members of
the derived object, that were inherited from the base class. This is because the pointer has knowledge
only of the base class. It knows nothing about the members changed or added by the derived class.
Note that a pointer to a derived class cannot be used to access an object of the base class.

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OOP in C++ Dr Robert Nürnberg

Finally, everything mentioned here about pointers to derived classes also holds true for passing arguments
by reference. I.e. a function that expects a reference to a base class object can also be passed a reference
to a derived class object. The following example illustrates that.
void show(const base &b); // reference to base class

int main() {
sub s(1,2);
show(s); // pass reference to derived object
// etc
}

5.4 Virtual functions

Virtual functions implement the “one interface, multiple methods” philosophy that underlies polymor-
phism. A virtual function is a class member function that is declared within a base class and redefined
by a derived class. The virtual function within the base class defines the form of the interface to that
function. Each redefinition of the virtual function by the derived class implements its operation as it
relates specifically to the derived class and hence creates a specific method. In order to declare a function
virtual, precede its declaration in the base class with the keyword virtual.
What makes a virtual function special and interesting is that it supports so called run-time polymorphism.
That is, when a base class pointer (or a base class reference) points to a derived object that contains a
virtual function and that virtual function is called by using that pointer, C++ determines which version
of that function to call based upon the type of the object that is pointed to.
This idea is best illustrated with an example.
#include <iostream>
using namespace std;

class base {
public:
virtual void print() { cout << "base" << endl; } // virtual !
};

class sub : public base {

public:
void print() { cout << "sub" << endl; }
};

class subsub : public sub {

public:
void print() { cout << "subsub" << endl; }
};

int main() {
base b; sub s; subsub ss;
b.print(); s.print(); ss.print(); // "base", "sub", "subsub"

base *p[3]; // pointers to base class

p[0] = &ss; p[1] = &s; p[2] = &b;
for (int i=0; i<3; ++i) p[i]->print(); // "subsub", "sub", "base"
return 0;
}
Observe that without declaring the print() member function in the base class as virtual, the last three
outputs would all read "base". Only by making the function virtual do we force the compiler to select
the appropriate member function for each object of the derived classes.
In case that a virtual function is not overridden in one of the derived classes, the version of the next
highest class where the function is redefined is executed. E.g. on introducing the derived class
class subsubsub : public subsub {};
the following statements in main() would also lead to the output "subsub".

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OOP in C++ Dr Robert Nürnberg

subsubsub sss;
p[0] = &sss;
p[0]->print();
Finally, the virtual nature of a base member function is also invoked, when the function is called inside
another base member function. Here one can think of the this pointer being used, see §3.6. The this
pointer inside a base member function is a pointer of type base *. When that pointer is used to call a
virtual member function, C++ determines which version of that function to call, depending on the object
it points to. The following example demonstrates this.
#include <iostream>
using namespace std;

class base {
public:
virtual void print() { cout << "base" << endl; } // virtual !
void show(); // non-virtual
};

class sub : public base {

public:
void print() { cout << "sub" << endl; }
};

void base::show() { print(); } // or: this->print();

int main() {
base b; sub s;
s.show(); b.show(); // "sub", "base"
return 0;
}

5.4.1 Pure virtual functions

Sometimes when a virtual function is declared in the base class, there is no meaningful operation for it
to perform. I.e. its definition in the base class would merely be used to define the function’s interface,
while there would be no sensible method for it in the base class.
This situation is quite common because often a base class does not define a complete class by itself.
Instead, it simply supplies a core set of member functions and variables to which the derived classes
supply the remainder. When there is no meaningful task for the base class virtual function to perform,
then any derived class must override this function. In C++ this is ensured by defining the concerned
function as pure virtual.
A pure virtual function has no definition in the base class, only the function’s declaration is included. To
make a virtual function a pure virtual function, it has to be “assigned” the value 0, e.g.
class base {
public:
virtual void print() = 0;
// etc
}
Some programmers do not like this somewhat arbitrary syntax and define a special preprocessor macro
called pure as follows.
#define pure = 0
Then the previous definition of the pure virtual function print() would change to the following.
class base {
public:
virtual void print() pure;
// etc
}
Keep in mind that when a function is defined as pure virtual, it forces any derived class to provide an
overriding definition.

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OOP in C++ Dr Robert Nürnberg

5.4.2 Abstract classes

A class that contains at least one pure virtual function is called an abstract class. All other classes are
called concrete classes. Since an abstract class contains at least one function for which no body exists,
it is technically speaking an incomplete type. In particular, no objects of that class can be created.
The only purpose of abstract classes is to be inherited by derived classes. Note, however, that it is still
possible to use pointers (and references) to abstract base classes.
Here is an example.
#include <iostream>
using namespace std;

class base {
public:
virtual void print() = 0; // pure virtual !
};

class sub1 : public base {

int a;
public:
void print() { cout << "sub1: " << a << endl; }
};

class sub2 : public base {

double b;
public:
void print() { cout << "sub2: " << b << endl; }
};

int main() {
sub1 s1; sub2 s2;
base *p[2]; // pointers to base class
p[0] = &s1; p[1] = &s2;
for (int i=0; i<2; ++i) p[i]->print();
return 0;
}

5.4.3 Constructors and destructors

While constructor functions cannot be made virtual, destructor functions can. The restriction for con-
structors makes sense since constructors must always be called explicitly, by naming the exact class to
construct. They can never be called by pointer or by reference. Moreover there is no need to declare
a constructor as virtual, since on recalling §5.2, a constructor in a derived class always invokes the
constructor of the next higher class.
Destructors, on the other hand, can and often should be made virtual. In particular, if a class contains
virtual member functions, then the destructor should be declared virtual to ensure that an object of a
derived class is always destructed properly, even when pointed to by a base class pointer.
Here is a simple example.
#include <iostream>
using namespace std;

class base {
public:
base() { cout << "Constructing base." << endl; }
virtual ~base() { cout << "Destructing base." << endl; } // virtual !
virtual void print() { cout << "base" << endl; }
};

class sub : public base {

public:
sub() { cout << "Constructing sub." << endl; }

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OOP in C++ Dr Robert Nürnberg

~sub() { cout << "Destructing sub." << endl; }

void print() { cout << "sub" << endl; }
};

int main() {
base *p = new sub;

delete p; // calls ~sub !

return 0; // "Destructing sub.", "Destructing base."
}

5.4.4 Inheriting virtual functions

When a virtual function is inherited, so is its virtual nature. That means that when a derived class
inherits a virtual function from a base class and is then used to derive yet another class, the virtual
function may be overridden by the final derived class. See also the example in §5.4.
Moreover, since the inherited function is virtual in the firstly derived class, a pointer to that class can
also be used to implement run-time polymorphism. Here is an example.
#include <iostream>
using namespace std;

class base {
public:
void print() { cout << "base" << endl; } // here not virtual!
virtual void show() { cout << "show base" << endl; }
};

class sub : public base {

public:
virtual void print() { cout << "sub" << endl; } // now virtual
void show() { cout << "show sub" << endl; } // virtual by default
};

class subsub : public sub {

public:
void print() { cout << "subsub" << endl; }
void show() { cout << "show subsub" << endl; }
};

int main() {
base b; sub s; subsub ss; base *pb[3]; sub *ps[2];
pb[0] = &b; pb[1] = &s; pb[2] = &ss;
for (int i=0; i<3; ++i) { // base, show base
pb[i]->print(); pb[i]->show(); // base, show sub
} // base, show subsub
ps[0] = &s; ps[1] = &ss;
for (int i=0; i<2; ++i) {
ps[i]->print(); ps[i]->show(); // sub, show sub
} // subsub, show subsub
return 0;
}

5.5 Friend functions and inheritance

A friend function is not inherited. That is, when a base class includes a friend function, that friend
function is not a friend of a derived class. A nice way around this problem is to put the main part of the
function into a virtual (!) member function. This means in particular, that the function does not need
to be declared as friend anymore. The following example demonstrates this using operator overloading,
see §4 for details on that.
#include <iostream>

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OOP in C++ Dr Robert Nürnberg

using namespace std;

class base {
protected:
int a;
public:
virtual void print(ostream &os) const { os << a << endl; }
};

class sub : public base {

int b;
public:
void print(ostream &os) const { os << a << "," << b << endl; }
};

ostream &operator<< (ostream &os, const base& b) { b.print(os); return os; }

int main() {
base b; sub s;
cout << b << s;
return 0;
}

5.6 Example for inheritance

The iostream library is an object-oriented library that provides input and output functionality using
streams. The following figure illustrates the dependence of the different classes provided by the library.

<ios> <istream> <iostream> <fstream>

-
ios base istream - cin ifstream
 1


?  ?
ios iostream - fstream
Q
Q 6 cout
Q
Q cerr
s
Q - clog
ostream - ofstream
<ostream>

6 Templates
Templates are a very powerful feature of C++. They are a relatively new addition to C++, and they
introduce the concept of generic programming. Generic programming is a data structure independent
way of developing and delivering algorithms that need not be bound to a specific object.
In particular, C++ templates allow you to implement generic functions or classes independent of a certain
parameter’s type. Once a template is defined, it can be used in connection with objects from any type,
provided that all the operations within the template are well defined for this type.
Templates are very useful when implementing generic constructs like vectors, stacks or lists, which can
be used with an arbitrary type. The most famous example for this kind of application is the Standard
Template Library, cf. §7.
C++ templates provide a way to reuse source code as opposed to inheritance and composition which
provide a way to reuse object code. In C++ you can define two kinds of templates: class templates
and function templates. The Standard Template Library, for example, uses function templates to define
generic algorithms, and the containers are implemented as class templates.

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OOP in C++ Dr Robert Nürnberg

More details on templates and many examples can be found at www.josuttis.com/tmplbook.

6.1 Function templates

Here is a very simple example that demonstrates the use of function templates. Observe that the syntax
template <class T> is equivalent to the syntax template <typename T> used in this example.
#include <iostream>
using namespace std;

template <typename T> // the following function uses the ’type’ T

T absolute(const T &a) {
if (a < 0) return -a;
else return a;
}

int main() {
int a = -5;
double b = 1.2;
float c = -0.43;
long int d = -123456789;

cout << "Absolute values are : " << absolute(a) << "," << absolute(b) << ","
<< absolute(c) << "," << absolute(d) << endl;
return 0;
}
Note that for the above program the compiler creates four different versions of the function absolute()
— one for each of the four types the function is invoked for.
Moreover, it is worth noting that one could have referred to the different overloaded versions directly, as
in the following example.
cout << "Absolute values are : " << absolute<int>(a) << endl;
In the above example, this is not really necessary. However, this way of identifying the intended function
has to be used, whenever at least one template typename T does not appear in the signature of the
function. Here is a small example.
#include <iostream>
using namespace std;

template <typename T> void foo(int i) {

T local = 0;
cout << local << " " << i << endl;
}

int main() {
foo<double>(2); return 0;
}

6.2 Class templates

Similar to function templates, a class template definition looks like a regular class definition, except that
it is prefixed by the keyword template. For example, the next program defines a class template my_pair.
#include <iostream>
using namespace std;

template <typename T> class my_pair {

T a,b;
public:
my_pair(T i, T j) : a(i), b(j) {}
void print();
};

template <typename T>

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OOP in C++ Dr Robert Nürnberg

void my_pair<T>::print() { // define print for my_pair<T>

cout << a << "," << b << endl;
}

int main() {
my_pair<int> a(-1,2);
my_pair<double> b(1.2,0.1);

a.print(); b.print();
return 0;
}

6.2.1 Inheritance
When inheriting from a class template, one has to specify which version of the base class one refers to.
In particular, one could either inherit the full template, or just one instantiation. Here is an example for
both.
#include <iostream>
using namespace std;

template <typename T> class base { // base template class

protected:
T a;
public:
base(T i = 0) : a(i) {}
void print() const { cout << a << endl; }
};

template <typename T> class sub : public base<T> { // refer to base<T> ,

protected:
T b;
public:
sub(T i, T j) : base<T>(i), b(j) {} // its constructor ,
void print() const { cout << base<T>::a << " " << b << endl; } // and its data !
};

class subsub : public sub<int> { // refer to sub<int>

int c;
public:
subsub(int i, int j, int k = 0) : sub<int>(i,j), c(k) {}
void print() const { cout << a << " " << b << " " << c << endl; }
};

int main() {
subsub a(-1,2);
sub<double> b(1.2,0.1);

a.print(); b.print();
return 0;
}
Here a short remark is due. Observe that in the member functions of the inherited class template sub<T>
particular attention has to be paid on how to refer to member data that was inherited from base<T>. In
this example, the correct syntax is
base<T>::a
which is slightly cumbersome. However, this is the only way we can refer to that member data. The
reason behind that lies in the C++ standard for templates. Strictly speaking, when the member function
in sub<T> is compiled, the base class itself has not yet been instantiated and as a consequence we have
no knowledge of what member data it will provide. Referring to the desired member data directly with
the help of the scope operator :: circumvents this problem.

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6.2.2 Template specialization

A template specialization allows a template to have specific implementations when the parameter type
is of a determined type. For instance, in the following example the member function mod() returns the
module between two integers if the class is my_pair<int> and 0 otherwise.
#include <iostream>
using namespace std;

template <typename T> class my_pair {

T a,b;
public:
my_pair(T i, T j) : a(i), b(j) {}
T mod() { return 0; }
};

template <>
int my_pair<int>::mod() { // overload definition for my_pair<int>
return a % b;
}

int main() {
my_pair<int> a(-1,2);
my_pair<double> b(1.2,0.1);
cout << a.mod() << endl; // ’-1’
cout << b.mod() << endl; // ’0’ by default
return 0;
}
Of course, we can also use template specialization in order to identify the typename that our template
was instantiated for. The following example demonstrates this.
#include <iostream>
using namespace std;

template <typename T> class my_pair {

T a,b;
public:
my_pair(T i, T j) : a(i), b(j) {}
int type_id() { return 0; } // used to identify T
void print();
};

template <>
int my_pair<int>::type_id() { return 1; } // specialize for int

template <>
int my_pair<double>::type_id() { return 2; } // specialize for double

template <typename T>

void my_pair<T>::print() {
int t = type_id();
switch (t) {
case 1 : cout << "Two integers: "; break;
case 2 : cout << "Two doubles: "; break;
default: cout << "Unknown type: "; break;
}
cout << a << " , " << b << endl;
}

int main() {
my_pair<int> a(-1,2);
my_pair<double> b(1.2,0.1);
my_pair<float> c(-1.1,0.2);

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OOP in C++ Dr Robert Nürnberg

a.print(); // ’Two integers: -1 , 2’

b.print(); // ’Two doubles: 1.2 , 0.1’
c.print(); // ’Unknown type: -1.1 , 0.2’
return 0;
}

6.2.3 Partial specialization

It is also possible to generate a specialization of the class for just one of several type parameters. Here
is an example.
#include <iostream>
using namespace std;

template <typename T1, typename T2> class my_pair { // base template class
T1 a; T2 b;
public:
my_pair(T1 i, T2 j) : a(i), b(j) {}
void print();
};

template <typename T1, typename T2>

void my_pair<T1, T2>::print() {
cout << a << "," << b << endl;
}

template <typename T> class my_pair<T, double> { // partial specialization

T a; double b;
public:
my_pair(T i, double j) : a(i), b(j) {}
void print();
};

template <typename T>

void my_pair<T, double>::print() {
cout << "The second data member is of type double: " << a << "," << b << endl;
}

int main() {
my_pair<int, int> a(-1,2);
my_pair<double, double> b(1.2,0.1);

a.print(); b.print();
return 0;
}
Note that the definition of any specialization is independent from the base template. I.e. in theory a
specialization could implement very different methods, though this would be very bad programming
practice indeed.

6.3 Compile time computations

Templates in C++ do not only offer compile time polymorphism as described above. One of the less
exploited and rather theoretical features is compile time computation.
The following example is taken from osl.iu.edu/~tveldhui/papers/Template-Metaprograms/ and
computes factorials at compile time.
#include<iostream>
using namespace std;

template<int N>
class Factorial {

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OOP in C++ Dr Robert Nürnberg

public:
enum { value = N * Factorial<N-1>::value };
};

class Factorial<0> {
public:
enum { value = 1 };
};

int main () {
cout << "10! = " << Factorial<10>::value << endl;
return 0;
}
The beauty of the above example is that no computation time is needed at run time.

7 STL
The Standard Template Library (STL) is a general purpose C++ library of algorithms and data structures.
The STL is part of the standard ANSI-C++ library and is implemented by means of the C++ template
mechanism, hence its name. While some aspects of the library are very complex, it can often be applied
in a very straightforward way, facilitating reuse of the sophisticated data structures and algorithms it
contains.
For a full documentation see www.sgi.com/tech/stl.

7.1 Vectors
The vector template is probably the most important and most widely used container class offered by
the STL. What makes it so attractive is that one can use it in the same fashion as C style arrays without
having to worry about memory management or possible memory leaks. Furthermore, by virtue of the
size() member function, one knows at any point in time how many objects a vector contains. With C
style arrays, of course, failure to monitor the size of an array properly can lead to incorrect programs
and segmentation faults.
All of the STL container classes are treated by C++ almost like the built-in standard types. In particular,
C++ takes care of the proper destruction of vectors and other containers as soon as one of these objects
goes out of scope. Moreover, for the vector class basic operators like =, == and < are already defined
and functional.
The following table gives an overview over the vector class’s most important member functions. Here
we assume that the size of the vector is of type int, that the objects contained in the vector are of type
T and that the iterators are of type T*. Some of the type declarations will be omitted in the table.
Details can be found at www.sgi.com/tech/stl/Vector.html.
Strictly speaking, the last two functions are no member functions. Instead they are implemented as
global functions, taking two parameters of type const vector&.

7.2 Other sequential containers

The vector container is one of the sequence containers that the STL offers. The other sequence containers
are deque and list. Note that the vector and deque classes support random access to elements, while
the list class does not. That is why the STL sort() algorithm (cf. §7.6) does not work for the list
class. Hence a sorting algorithm for lists is provided as a member function, see the example below.
The following table shows the insert and erase overheads of the containers vector, list and deque. You
should keep these in mind when choosing a container for solving a specific task. E.g. a list is preferable
when you do not need random access to elements and when you often have to erase elements in the
middle, say.
Here is a simple example for the list container class. Note that iterators will be covered in more detail
in §7.4.
#include <iostream>
#include <list>

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Member function Description Example

begin() Returns iterator pointing to the beginning of vector. T *p = v.begin();
end() Returns iterator pointing to the end of vector. T *p = v.end();
size() Size of vector. if ( i < v.size() )
capacity() Number of elements for which memory has been allocated.
bool empty() True if vector’s size is 0. if (!v.empty() )
operator[] (int i) Returns reference to or the nth element. v[2] = v[3];
at(int i) Same as [] but with boundary check. Not always available. v.at(2) = v.at(3);
vector() Default constructor: creates an empty vector. vector<T> v;
vector(int n) Creates a vector with n elements. vector<T> v(100);
vector(int n, const T &t) Creates a vector with n copies of t. vector<T> v(100, t);
vector(const vector&) Copy constructor. vector<T> u(v);
reserve(int n) Increase capacity() to n. v.reserve(10000);
push_back(const T&) Inserts a new element at the end. v.push_back(5);
pop_back() Removes the last element. v.pop_back();
swap(vector&) Swaps the contents of two vectors. u.swap(v);
insert(T *p, int n, const T& t) Inserts n copies of t before p. u.insert(u.end(), 9, t);
erase(T *p) Erases the element at position p. v.erase(v.begin() );
erase(T *f, T *l) Erases range [f, l). v.erase(&v[3], &v[8]);
clear() Erases all of the elements. v.clear();
resize(int n, const T &t = T()) Inserts/erases elements at the end so that size becomes n. v.resize(50);
operator= (const vector&) Assignment operator. u = v;
operator== (const vector&) Tests two vectors for equality. if (u == v)
operator< (const vector&) Lexicographical comparison. if (u < v)

Table 2: Member functions of the STL vector container class.

container insert/erase overhead

at the beginning in the middle at the end
vector linear linear constant
list constant constant constant
deque constant linear constant

Table 3: Insert and erase overheads for vector, list and deque.

using namespace std;

int main() {
list<int> L;
L.push_back(0);
L.push_front(0);
L.insert(++L.begin(),2,3);

L.push_back(5);
L.push_back(6);

L.sort(); // the STL sort() algorithm does NOT work

for(list<int>::iterator i=L.begin(); i != L.end(); ++i) // linear traversal

cout << *i << " ";
cout << endl;
return 0;
}
A second group of STL containers are the container adaptors: stack, queue and priority_queue. They
were derived from the three original containers described above.

7.3 Associative containers

The last group are the so called associative containers. They include set, multiset, map and multimap.
A map, for example, is a sorted associative container that holds pairs of keys and data, where each entry’s
key is unique. Hence it is ideally suited to implement dictionaries, for instance. Here is a short example
for the map container class.
#include <iostream>
#include <map>
#include <string>
using namespace std;

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OOP in C++ Dr Robert Nürnberg

int main() {
map<string, int> freq; // map of words and their frequencies
string word;

while (cin >> word && word != "quit") {

++freq[word];
}

// write the frequency and the word

for (map<string, int>::iterator i=freq.begin(); i != freq.end(); ++i) {
cout << i->second << " " << i->first << endl;
}
return 0;
}
Details on all the STL containers can be found at the web site given before and also at e.g.
www.cppreference.com.

7.4 Iterators
Iterators are a fundamental feature of the Standard Template Library. The concept of iterators was
introduced in order to unify access to and traversal of different kinds of STL containers and, in particular,
to allow most of the STL algorithms to work for any container type.
Let us look at a simple example.
#include <iostream>
#include <vector>
#include <list>
#include <map>
#include <string>
using namespace std;

int main() {
vector<double> v(20,1.2);
list<int> l(10,4);
map<string, int> m;
m["ab"] = 1; m["yz"] = 4; m["fg"] = 0;

map<string, int>::iterator mitr;

for(mitr=m.begin(); mitr != m.end(); ++mitr)
cout << (*mitr).first << " " << (*mitr).second << endl;

list<int>::iterator litr;
for(litr=l.begin(); litr != l.end(); ++litr) cout << *litr << " ";
cout << endl;

vector<double>::iterator vitr;
for(vitr=v.begin(); vitr != v.end(); ++vitr) cout << *vitr << " ";
cout << endl;
return 0;
}
Observe that the traversal of e.g. a map, a list and a vector can be done in exactly the same way,
although the internal data structures of these containers are fundamentally different.
You can think of iterators as a special class that belongs to the STL containers and that is overloaded
differently for each container. Through appropriately overloading operators such as =, !=, ++, * (see
above) and other operators, this iterator class provides access to the elements stored in a container and
allows its traversal. Note that pointers are nothing other than special iterators for both C style arrays
and STL vectors.
There are several advantages for the use of iterators. As you have seen, iterators can be uniformly used
for all containers and also arrays. Furthermore, on creating your own container class with an appropriate
iterator class, you can use the existing STL algorithms for your new class. Similarly, if you code a new

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(template based) algorithm for container classes that is written using iterators, it will apply to all existing
containers for which there are iterators.
More details on iterators can be found at www.sgi.com/tech/stl/Iterators.html.

7.5 Functors
Many of the STL algorithms (cf. §7.6) can be given so called function objects, or functors, as one of
their parameters. A functor is simply any object that can be called as if it is a function. Hence an
ordinary function is a functor, and so is a function pointer. Moreover, any object of a class that defines
an operator() is a functor.
The STL offers many predefined generic functors, such as plus, minus, times, divides and modulus.
Furthermore, many bool functors – so called predicates – are defined within the STL as well. E.g.
equal_to, not_equal_to, greater, less, greater_equal and less_equal.
The following program shows how some of these templates can be used.
#include<iostream>
#include<cmath>
#include<functional>
using namespace std;

struct abs_greater : public binary_function<double, double, bool> {

bool operator()(double a, double b) { return (abs(a) > abs(b)); }
};

int main() {
double a = -5.1, b = 3.4;
abs_greater a_g;
plus<double> pl;

if (a_g(a,b)) cout << "|a| > |b|" << endl;

cout << "a + b = " << pl(a,b) << endl;
return 0;
}
Of course, as stand alone classes these functors do not make much sense. But in connection with the
STL algorithms, they can be very powerful.

7.6 Algorithms
The STL also includes a large collection of algorithms that manipulate the data stored in containers.
The following example demonstrates the use of some of the STL algorithms. Although the program uses
a vector<int> container, most of the algorithms also work for many other STL containers. To make this
possible, all the algorithms are defined as global functions. Secondly, most of the algorithms are given a
range to operate on. E.g. a full vector<int> v is given by the range (v.begin(), v.end()).
#include <iostream>
#include <vector>
#include <algorithm>
#include <numeric>
using namespace std;

int dice() { return rand() % 6 + 1; }

int main() {
vector<int> v(1000);

generate(v.begin(), v.end(), dice); // generate

cout << "Number of sixes: " << count(v.begin(), v.end(), 6) // count

<< endl;

vector<int>::iterator ffive = find(v.begin(), v.end(), 5); // find

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OOP in C++ Dr Robert Nürnberg

cout << "Number after first five = " << *(ffive+1) << endl;

reverse(v.begin()+10, v.begin()+100); // reverse

random_shuffle(v.begin(), v.end()); // random_shuffle

sort(v.begin(), v.end()); // sort with ’<’

sort(v.begin(), v.end(), greater<int>() ); // sort with greater

double a = max(1.2, 4.3); // max;

cout << "max(1.2,4.3) ** 10 = " << power(a, 10) << endl; // power

vector<int>::iterator m_el = min_element(v.begin(), v.end());// min_element

cout << "The smallest element is " << *m_el << endl;

vector<int> u(10);
fill(u.begin(), u.end(), 9); // fill

iota(u.begin(), u.end(), -4); // iota : ’-4 -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3 4 5’

while (binary_search(u.begin(), u.end(), 0)) { // binary_search

cout << "There exists a 0 element." << endl;
vector<int>::iterator zero = find(u.begin(), u.end(), 0);
u.erase(zero);
}

vector<int>::iterator new_end = remove(u.begin(),u.end(),-2);// remove

u.erase(new_end, u.end());

copy(u.begin(), u.end(), ostream_iterator<int>(cout, " ")); // copy

cout << endl; // ’-4 -3 -1 1 2 3 4 5’

cout << "The sum of all elements is "

<< accumulate(u.begin(), u.end(), 0) << endl; // accumulate

cout << "The product of all elements is "

<< accumulate(u.begin(), u.end(), 1, multiplies<int>()) << endl;
return 0;
}
The remarkable thing about the STL algorithms is that they work with almost any kind of container,
including C style arrays. Here is an example, that first sorts and then outputs a given array.
#include<iostream>
#include<algorithm>
#include<iterator>
using namespace std;

int main() {
int A[] = {1, 4, 2, 8, 5, 7};
const int N = sizeof(A) / sizeof(int);

sort(A, A + N); // sort

copy(A, A + N, ostream_iterator<int>(cout, " ")); // copy : "1 2 4 5 7 8"
cout << endl;

return 0;
}

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8 Miscellaneous
8.1 Namespaces
Namespaces allow you to group a set of global classes, objects and/or functions under a name. This can
be useful when writing large programs, where one wants to use the same name for two different objects
in different contexts, say. If one chooses not to use the using namespace keyword, one can still refer to
the defined objects with the help of the scope operator ::. Here is an example.
#include <iostream>
using namespace std;

namespace first { int var = 5; }

namespace second { double var = 3.1416; }

int main () {
{
using namespace first;
cout << var << endl;
}
{
using namespace second;
cout << var << endl;
}
cout << first::var + second::var << endl;
return 0;
}
When using the ANSI-C++ compliant include files one has to bear in mind that all the included functions,
classes and objects will be declared under the std namespace.

8.2 Advanced I/O

Here is an example that demonstrates some of the advanced features of output operations under C++.
#include <iostream>
using namespace std;

int main() {
cout << 123.23 << endl; // ’123.23’
cout.setf(ios::scientific | ios::showpos | ios::uppercase);
cout << 123.23 << endl; // ’+1.232300e+02’
cout.unsetf(ios::showpos | ios::uppercase);
cout << 123.23 << endl; // ’1.232300e+02’
cout.precision(1);
cout << 123.23 << endl; // ’1.2e+02’
cout.precision(5); cout.width(13);
cout << 123.23 << endl; // ’ 1.23230e+02’
cout.precision(5); cout.width(13); cout.fill(’0’);
cout << 123.23 << endl; // ’001.23230e+02’
cout << 123.23 << endl; // ’1.232e+02’
return 0;
}
Of interested could also be the flags ios::right and ios::fixed.
For more details visit www.cppreference.com/cppio.html.
Another convenient way to simplify I/O operations is to define your own manipulators. Here is a short
example.
#include <iostream>
using namespace std;

ostream &myformat(ostream &os) {

os.width(10);
os.precision(4);

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OOP in C++ Dr Robert Nürnberg

os.fill(’*’);
return os;
}

ostream &tri(ostream &os) {

os << "The result is: ";
return os;
}

int main() {
cout << tri << myformat << 123.23 << endl; // ’The result is: *****123.2’
return 0;
}

8.3 Static class members

If a class member is declared as static, only one copy of it is ever created, no matter how many objects
of that class are created. In particular, the programmer has to define the variable also outside the class,
so that memory is allocated for it. The following example demonstrates this.
#include <iostream>
using namespace std;

class myclass {
public:
static int i;
myclass(int ii) { i = ii; }
};

int myclass::i = 10;

int main() {
myclass a(5);
myclass b(8);
cout << a.i << endl; // ’8’
return 0;
}

8.4 Conversion functions

In C++ it is possible to define a conversion function that is used whenever an object of this class is found
in a place where a different type is expected. Usually this will be one of the built-in C++ types. Here is
an example.
#include <iostream>
using namespace std;

class cmplx {
double r, i;
public:
cmplx(double a, double b) : r(a), i(b) {}
operator double() { return sqrt(r*r + i*i); }
};

int main() {
cmplx c(2.0,1.5);
double a = c; // conversion from cmplx to double
cout << a << endl; // ’2.5’
return 0;
}
Obviously, one should use these conversion functions carefully.

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8.5 Exception handling

Exception handling can be a useful tool when developing and debugging a program. The three commands
used for it are try, throw and catch.
#include <iostream>
#include <string>
using namespace std;

int main () {
try {
double *m;
m = new double[10];
if (m == NULL) throw "Allocation failure";
for (int i=0; i<100; ++i) {
if (i>9) throw i;
m[i]=sqrt(i);
}
// etc
delete [] m;
}
catch (int n) {
cout << "Exception: index " << n << " is out of range." << endl;
}
catch (string s) {
cout << "Exception: " << s << endl;
}
return 0;
}
If you want to catch any exception within a try block, use catch(...) (i.e. three single dots within the
brackets).

8.6 Temporary objects

In C++ temporary objects are not only created when functions return objects and when functions are
passed objects by value. C++ also allows you to define your own temporary objects of your newly defined
classes. These temporary objects are only valid for the line of code their appear in.
Here is a simple example.
#include<iostream>
#include<vector>

class A {
int a,b;
public:
A(int i = 0, int j = 0) : a(i), b(j) {}
void print() const { cout << a << "," << b << endl; }
};

void show(const A &x, const A &y) {

cout << "x = "; x.print();
cout << "y = "; y.print();
}

int main () {
show(A(), A(1,2));

vector<A> v(10, A(4,8));

for (int i=0; i<v.size(); ++i) v[i].print();

return 0;
}
Note that in the above a temporary object is used to initialize a vector<A>.

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8.7 Passing functions as arguments

On recalling §4.1, it is straightforward to pass functions as arguments to other functions. Here is an
example.
#include <iostream>
using namespace std;

double abs(double x) { return x > 0 ? x : -x; }

void print(double x) { cout << "Number is: " << x << endl; }

int combine(void (*f)(double), double (*g)(double), double x) {

if (f != NULL && g != NULL) { f( g(x) ); return 0; }
else return 1;
}

int main() {
return combine(print, abs, -2.5);
}
See also §2.7.1 for another example.

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