Rossella Lau Lecture 8, DCO10105, Semester B, DCO10105 Object-Oriented Programming and Design  Lecture 8: Polymorphism & C++ pointer  Inheritance and polymorphism  Type cast in C++  Pointer, dynamic memory, and pointer’s effect on class construction  Dynamic binding and virtual function -- By Rossella Lau

Rossella Lau Lecture 8, DCO10105, Semester B,  A sub class has all the properties of its base class  Data members, no matter if it is private, protected, or public  Function members, no matter if it is private or not  The type of the base class, e.g., line 17 in DonalFamily.h  Polymorphism – many types  Same classes can play as different types (of ancestors)  Same expressions can perform different operations Polymorphism

Rossella Lau Lecture 8, DCO10105, Semester B, Our Donald’s family version 1.1  Notes on the DonaldFamily.h  The constructor of a sub class can use its parent’s constructor  To identify a member in the parent class that is identical to its own member, use BaseClass:: to identify, e.g., line 34  scopePlayer2.cpp  A parent’s function can also be identified through the instance of the child class by using BaseClass:: e.g. line 38

Rossella Lau Lecture 8, DCO10105, Semester B, Type cast in C++  To play the type of a parent class, one can use type cast in C++  static_cast ( variable ) Temporary change a variable’s type to ClassName e.g., line 42 in scopePlayer2.cpp Formal C uses ( ClassName ) variable  const_cast ( variable ) Sometimes use to cast away the constant attribute of a parameter in order to get through the compiler  reinterpret_cast ( variable ) Seldom use  dynamic_cast ( variable ) usually apply to pointers and not recommended to use

Rossella Lau Lecture 8, DCO10105, Semester B, Static binding does not always work  However, line 42 does not have any effect even though dewey pretends a Donald  The type cast on line 42 is just a compiler binding, static binding, and dewey’s actual data type is still Dewey and it can’t really pretend Donald during execution  In C++, to achieve actual execution type cast, dynamic binding, one should use pointer and define function to be overridden as virtual function

Rossella Lau Lecture 8, DCO10105, Semester B, Data and memory  All data required in a program must be in the memory  Memory is addressed from zero to, e.g., 512M-1  Data in a location is referenced by an address  Data declared in a program will be assigned some memory spaces and referenced by the beginning of the address … Memory in vertical view

Rossella Lau Lecture 8, DCO10105, Semester B, Simple data referencing in memory x's address is, for example, 2000 with the value of 0, and y is at … x y …… {int a, b; …… }

Rossella Lau Lecture 8, DCO10105, Semester B, Memory allocation for simple data  It depends on both the hardware and the compiler  Usually, for the C or C++ programs, the compiler/ system assigns a truck of memory for allocating:  Static space Data survival while the program is running Syntax: e.g., static int a; and global variables  Automatic space (or called a stack) Data are alive only when data’s corresponding scope is running Syntax: e.g., int a;

Rossella Lau Lecture 8, DCO10105, Semester B, Pointer A pointer stores the value of an address  In data declaration, e.g., int *p;  p is a pointer;  the content in the address of p is integer type, i.e., address 2000 stores an integer  In program statement,  the identifier, p, refers to an address (i.e., 2000) or it will be assigned an address  the identifier with an * (dereferencing), *p, refers to the data/object in the address of p  &id means the address of id … x y p

Rossella Lau Lecture 8, DCO10105, Semester B, Pointer definition & expression  To declare a pointer e.g,. int * ptr;  To assign the address of a datum to a pointer, e.g., int a, b; ptr = &a;  To refer to the datum pointed to by a pointer (dereferencing) e.g., *ptr = 2; // same as a = 2 b = *ptr; // same as b = a

Rossella Lau Lecture 8, DCO10105, Semester B, Pointer - a conceptual sense … x y p 0 … x y p

Rossella Lau Lecture 8, DCO10105, Semester B, More details about pointer’s related syntax  Malik’s slides: 14: 5-9  Malik Exercise: 14:3  What is the output of the following C++ code? int x; int y; int *p = &x; int *q = &y; *p = 35; *q = 98; *p = *q; cout << x << “ “ << y << endl; cout << *p << “ “ << * q << endl;

Rossella Lau Lecture 8, DCO10105, Semester B, Array and pointer  In C, an array id is also a pointer  For static array, it is a constant pointer  For dynamic array, it can be used as a normal pointer  The array id, array, refers to the starting address of the array; i.e., array refers to the address of array[0]  E.g., int *array; or int array[SIZE];  array is the starting address of the array  array is also the address of array[0]  *array is the same as array[0]  If it is a dynamic array (the first form), it allows for int *ptr; ptr = arrary; array = ptr;  However, if it is a static array (the second form), array is a constant pointer, it does not allow for array = ptr;

Rossella Lau Lecture 8, DCO10105, Semester B, Null pointer A pointer can have null value, e.g., ptr = 0;  This pointer with a value of binary zero is also called a null pointer  It represents that the pointer refers to nothing  Checking:  if (ptr) // to check if a pointer refers to something  if (!ptr) // to check if a pointer is null  if (ptr == NULL) // C style to check for a null pointer

Rossella Lau Lecture 8, DCO10105, Semester B, Parameter passed by pointer (for efficiency)  When an object is passed to a function, copying of the object is not efficient  Passed by a pointer, other than passed by a reference, is more efficient: only the value of the pointer is copied Calling functionCalled function copying  E.g., functions in array.cpp of Lecture 4

Rossella Lau Lecture 8, DCO10105, Semester B, Constant pointers/reference  Objects passed by pointers may be modified since the object is pointed to by the called function  On many occasions, objects are only for reference purposes; e.g., parameters of many operators such as +, -, *, /, cout.  C++ provides a keyword const to specify that an object (including pointers) can be a constant and/or the object referenced can be a constant; i.e., the object referenced remains unchanged; e.g.,:  int const *cip; // pointer to an int const  int *const icp; // pointer const to an int  int const *const cicp; // pointer const to an int const

Rossella Lau Lecture 8, DCO10105, Semester B, …… a_ptr = a_fun() …… int *a_fun() { int a; …… return &_a; // space of a // released // before a_fun // ends } Danger pointers  Dangling pointer: a pointer points to an object which is not available or overwritten by others  Invalid address reference; e.g., use of null pointers.

Rossella Lau Lecture 8, DCO10105, Semester B,  The declaration of a pointer does not provide any memory space for its target  Dynamic space can be obtained by the operator new  Dewey *p = new Dewey; // get space for an instance  Dynamic space is in an area managed by the operating system and is permanent – it allows the object to be created and then used in different functions  C-style gets dynamic space by using malloc() Pointer and memory allocation //Misuse of null pointer int *p; *p = 1320; // illegal!!

Rossella Lau Lecture 8, DCO10105, Semester B, Memory allocation for dynamic array  The following will cause the system to fail when length is a variable, int array[length];  To obtain space for an array: int *array = new int[length];  Remember to avoid misuse of null pointers: int *array; cout << *array; // array does not refer // to any real block!

Rossella Lau Lecture 8, DCO10105, Semester B, Dynamic memory de-allocation  Unlike Java, C does not automatically resume dynamic spaces  If one continues to do allocation, the system will crash because of running out of memory – it is also called memory leak.  It is required to de-allocate the occupied space before the program is terminated delete dewey; delete[] array; //must use this form for array  C-style: delete()

Rossella Lau Lecture 8, DCO10105, Semester B, Notes to memory de-allocation  Local variables defined in each function will be automatically released just before a function is terminated  Instances declared as a real variable, not a pointer, e.g., Donald donald; will also be released in the same way  Global variables are automatically released just before a program is terminated  However, dynamic space assigned by using the operator new will not be released as in the above manner.

Rossella Lau Lecture 8, DCO10105, Semester B, Pointer and class  A member function in OOP must be invoked with an instance object; e.g., dewey.print();  The instance object is the associated object of each member function defined in a class  In Java, the associated object is “ this ”, a reference  In C++, “ this ” is a pointer  To refer to the associated object, use *this  To identify a member, e.g., use this  print();

Rossella Lau Lecture 8, DCO10105, Semester B, Pointer as a data member  When there is a pointer data member, most likely, it will point to dynamic memory;  e.g., class IntArray stores a dynamic array, a pointer  Care should be taken during class construction since the following can be automatically generated by the compiler:  Default constructor & Destructor  Copy constructor & Assignment operator Care should be taken that if a shallow copy or a deep copy is needed (Malik’s slide: 14: 16, 21) Class IntArray, similar to classes in the STL, performs deep copy

Rossella Lau Lecture 8, DCO10105, Semester B, Using pointer for dynamic binding  scopePlayer3.cpp  Line 40 takes effect!  Sub classes should be able to pretend the base class and then plays its own role again such as the call on line 44  But the execution shows that for line 44, it uses only the print() of the base class

Rossella Lau Lecture 8, DCO10105, Semester B, Dynamic binding  To simplify defining many functions for playPrint(), the print() of the base class can be defined as a virtual function in order to allow one expression to perform different operations  E.g., DonaldFamilyVirtual.h & scopePlayer4.cpp Change void print() const; to virtual void print() const; The execution inside playPrint() can perform different print() according to the actual data type of the passed object!  Dynamic binding in C++ should be achieved by both pointers and virtual functions

Rossella Lau Lecture 8, DCO10105, Semester B, Summary  Polymorphism means an object can play different roles through static binding or dynamic binding  Dynamic binding in C++ must be achieved by pointers and virtual functions  A pointer stores an address and can apply de-referencing and object member identification  Pointer is a powerful but also a dangerous feature and thus in C++, reference is used more  When there is a pointer data member, care must be taken in defining default constructor, copy constructor, assignment operator, and destructor

Rossella Lau Lecture 8, DCO10105, Semester B, Reference  Malik: END --