Casting this pointer to derived class in CRTP - c++

I wonder if this code is well defined. Seems to me fine, but hopefully someone can explain this (either correct, or wrong) in standard terms.
template <typename T>
class B {
public:
B (int n) : p {n} {}
T& operator++ () {
++p;
return static_cast<T&> (*this); // (X)
}
int p;
};
class Z : public B<Z> {
public:
using B::B;
int boo = 42;
};
and usage:
Z z {10};
std::cout << z.p << " " << z.boo << "\n";
Z& x = ++z;
std::cout << x.p << " " << x.boo << "\n";
x.boo = 1;
++x;
std::cout << z.p << " " << z.boo << "\n";
What people always do is to have a reference to the base class and pass the derived object to it. Here I have the opposite behavior in (X). Output of usage is as expected. I am asking if extension of Z can cause a problem?

Related

Static Cast to CRTP Interface [duplicate]

This question already has answers here:
What is object slicing?
(18 answers)
Closed 1 year ago.
I am building up a CRTP interface and noticed some undefined behavior. So, I built up some sample code to narrow down the problem.
#include <iostream>
template <typename T>
class Base {
public:
int a() const { return static_cast<T const&>(*this).a_IMPL(); }
int b() const { return static_cast<T const&>(*this).b_IMPL(); }
int c() const { return static_cast<T const&>(*this).c_IMPL(); }
};
class A : public Base<A> {
public:
A(int a, int b, int c) : _a(a), _b(b), _c(c) {}
int a_IMPL() const { return _a; }
int b_IMPL() const { return _b; }
int c_IMPL() const { return _c; }
private:
int _a;
int _b;
int _c;
};
template <typename T>
void foo(const T& v) {
std::cout << "foo()" << std::endl;
std::cout << "a() = " << static_cast<Base<T>>(v).a() << std::endl;
std::cout << "b() = " << static_cast<Base<T>>(v).b() << std::endl;
std::cout << "c() = " << static_cast<Base<T>>(v).c() << std::endl;
}
int main() {
A v(10, 20, 30);
std::cout << "a() = " << v.a() << std::endl;
std::cout << "b() = " << v.b() << std::endl;
std::cout << "c() = " << v.c() << std::endl;
foo(v);
return 0;
}
The output of this code is:
a() = 10
b() = 20
c() = 30
foo()
a() = 134217855
b() = 0
c() = -917692416
It appears that there is some problem when casting the child class, which implements the CRTP "interface", to the interface itself. This doesn't make sense to me because the class A plainly inherits from Base so, shouldn't I be able to cast an instance of A into Base?
Thanks!
You copy and slice when you cast to Base<T>.
Cast to a const Base<T>& instead:
std::cout << "a() = " << static_cast<const Base<T>&>(v).a() << std::endl;
std::cout << "b() = " << static_cast<const Base<T>&>(v).b() << std::endl;
std::cout << "c() = " << static_cast<const Base<T>&>(v).c() << std::endl;
It turns out I was casting incorrectly to a value rather than a reference
std::cout << "a() = " << static_cast<Base<T>>(v).a() << std::endl;
should become
std::cout << "a() = " << static_cast<const Base<T>&>(v).a() << std::endl;

Are const data member allowed to change outside the class?

If a class has a const reference data member that happens to change outside the scope of such class, is this undefined behaviour?
As an example, let's consider the following C++ code:
#include <iostream>
class A {
int x;
public:
A(int x): x(x){}
void change(int y){
x = y;
}
friend std::ostream & operator << (std::ostream & os, const A & a){
os << a.x;
return os;
}
};
class B {
const A & a;
public:
B(const A & a) : a(a) {}
friend std::ostream & operator << (std::ostream & os, const B & b){
os << b.a;
return os;
}
};
int main(){
A a(1);
B b(a);
std::cout << a << std::endl;
std::cout << b << std::endl;
a.change(2);
std::cout << a << std::endl;
std::cout << b << std::endl;
}
My compiler was able to execute it correctly and the debugger indicated that the x of B::a was changed.
Thank you for you help!
It is not undefined behavior. The const reference that is a member of B only means that an instance of B may not change it via that reference. Because it is a reference, however, something else may change it -- including other members of B that have their own non-const reference to the same instance of A.
Compare the addition of the member c to your existing B class, and note that we are changing it successfully within B::changeA() via the non-const reference and also from C::change() down in main():
#include <iostream>
class A {
int x;
public:
A(int x): x(x){}
void change(int y){
x = y;
}
friend std::ostream & operator << (std::ostream & os, const A & a){
os << a.x;
return os;
}
};
class C
{
A& a;
public:
C(A& a) : a{a} {}
void change(int y) { a.change(y); }
};
class B {
const A & a;
C& c;
public:
B(const A & a, C& c) : a(a), c{c} {}
friend std::ostream & operator << (std::ostream & os, const B & b){
os << b.a;
return os;
}
void changeA(int y) { c.change(y); }
};
int main(){
A a(1);
C c(a);
B b(a,c);
std::cout << a << ' ' << b << '\n';
a.change(2);
std::cout << a << ' ' << b << '\n';
b.changeA(3);
std::cout << a << ' ' << b << '\n';
c.change(4);
std::cout << a << ' ' << b << '\n';
}
See it run live on Coliru, which prints:
1 1
2 2
3 3
4 4
You may not change an object using a constant reference to it but you may change the object itself if it is not constant or using a non-constant reference to the object.
Consider the following demonstrative program.
#include <iostream>
int main()
{
int x = 10;
int &rx = x;
const int &crx = x;
std::cout << "rx = " << rx << '\n';
std::cout << "crx = " << crx << '\n';
rx = 20;
std::cout << "rx = " << rx << '\n';
std::cout << "crx = " << crx << '\n';
return 0;
}
Its output is
rx = 10
crx = 10
rx = 20
crx = 20
It is the same as using a pointer to constant data. For example
#include <iostream>
int main()
{
int x = 10;
int *px = &x;
const int *cpx = &x;
std::cout << "*px = " << *px << '\n';
std::cout << "*cpx = " << *cpx << '\n';
*px = 20;
std::cout << "*px = " << *px << '\n';
std::cout << "*cpx = " << *cpx << '\n';
return 0;
}

Eliding copy/move when taking members out of a temporary

I'd like to take out members of a temporary without unnecessary moving or copying.
Suppose I have:
class TP {
T _t1, _t2;
};
I'd like to get _t1, and _t2 from TP(). Is it possible without copying/moving members?
I've tried with tuples and trying to "forward" (I don't think it's possible) the members, but the best I could get was a move, or members dying immediately.
In the following playground using B::as_tuple2 ends up with members dying too soon, unless the result is bound to a non-ref type, then members are moved. B::as_tuple simply moves is safe with auto on client side.
I suppose this should be technically possible, since the temporary dies immediately, and the member do die while they could bound to variables on the calling site (Am I wrong?), and structured binding of a similar struct works as intended.
Is it possible to extend/pass life of the member onto an outside variable, or elide the move/copy? I need it with c++14 version, but I couldn't get it to work on c++17 either, so I am interested in both.
Playground:
#include <tuple>
#include <iostream>
using std::cout;
class Shawty {
/**
* Pronounced shouty.
**/
public:
Shawty() : _id(Shawty::id++) {cout << _id << " ctor\n"; }
Shawty(Shawty && s) : _id(Shawty::id++) { cout << _id << " moved from " << s._id << "\n"; }
Shawty(const Shawty & s) : _id(Shawty::id++) { cout << _id << " copied from " << s._id << "\n"; }
Shawty& operator=(Shawty && s) { cout << _id << " =moved from " << s._id << "\n"; return *this;}
Shawty& operator=(Shawty & s) { cout << _id << " =copied from " << s._id << "\n"; return *this;}
~Shawty() {cout << _id << " dtor\n"; }
int _id;
static int id;
};
int Shawty::id = 0;
class B {
public:
auto as_tuple() && {return std::make_tuple(std::move(_s1), std::move(_s2));}
auto as_tuple2() && {return std::forward_as_tuple(std::move(_s1), std::move(_s2));}
private:
Shawty _s1, _s2;
};
struct S {
Shawty _s1, _s2;
};
int main() {
std::cout << "----------\n";
auto [s1, s2] = B().as_tuple2();
std::cout << "---------\n";
auto tpl1 = B().as_tuple2();
std::cout << "----------\n";
std::tuple<Shawty, Shawty> tpl2 = B().as_tuple2();
std::cout << "----------\n";
std::cout << std::get<0>(tpl1)._id << '\n';
std::cout << std::get<1>(tpl1)._id << '\n';
std::cout << std::get<0>(tpl2)._id << '\n';
std::cout << std::get<1>(tpl2)._id << '\n';
std::cout << s1._id << '\n';
std::cout << s2._id << '\n';
std::cout << "--struct--\n";
auto [s3, s4] = S{};
std::cout << s3._id << '\n';
std::cout << s4._id << '\n';
std::cout << "----------\n";
return 0;
}
No. It is not possible to extend the lifetime of more than one member beyond the lifetime of the super object.
So, the only way to "get" members without copying is to keep the super object alive, and refer to them:
// member function
auto as_tuple3() & {
return std::make_tuple(std::ref(_s1), std::ref(_s2));
}
// usage
B b;
auto [s1, s2] = b.as_tuple3();
An example of extending lifetime of the object by binding a reference to a single member. Note that this requires the member to be accessible from where the reference is bound (not the case in your example, where the member is private):
auto&& s1 = B{}._s1;
Add support for structured binding to your B type.
class B {
public:
template<std::size_t I, class Self,
std::enable_if_t< std::is_same_v<B, std::decay_t<Self>>, bool> = true
>
friend constexpr decltype(auto) get(Self&& self) {
if constexpr(I==0)
{
using R = decltype(std::forward<Self>(self)._s1)&&;
return (R)std::forward<Self>(self)._s1;
}
else if constexpr(I==1)
{
using R = decltype(std::forward<Self>(self)._s2)&&;
return (R)std::forward<Self>(self)._s2;
}
}
private:
Shawty _s1, _s2;
};
namespace std {
template<>
struct tuple_size<::B>:std::integral_constant<std::size_t, 2> {};
template<std::size_t N>
struct tuple_element<N, ::B>{using type=Shawty;};
}
Test code:
int main() {
std::cout << "----------\n";
{
auto&& [s1, s2] = B();
}
}
output:
----------
0 ctor
1 ctor
1 dtor
0 dtor
Live example.
This is the best I can do. Note that s1 and s2 are references into a lifetime-extended version of B.

why inherited functions changes the member variables in base class not the one of the same name of object called it

I want to ask why the setX function here sets the x member variable in class A not the member variable x in class D even though I call setX function through D object?
How does the compiler did that ?
#include<iostream>
using namespace std;
class A
{
public:
int x;
A() { cout << "A cons" << endl; }
void setX(int i){ x = i; cout << "setxA" << endl; }
void print() { cout << x; }
};
class B : public A
{
public:
int x =30;
B() { cout << "B cons" << endl; }
};
class D : public B {
public:
D() {
cout << "D cons" << endl;
}
void func() {
setX(10);
cout << x << endl;
cout << B::x << endl;
cout << A::x << endl;
}
};
int main()
{
D d;
d.func();
return 0;
}
the output from this code is
30
30
10
This is called name hiding. Both A and B have a member x and both members always exist (you just cannot access them the same way). A knows about his member x and so the setX function sets exactly this member A::x. In B, you define another x which hides A::x. This means that if you do
B obj;
obj.x = 10;
or
D obj;
obj.x = 10;
you will access B::x both of the times (because B is lower in the inheritance hierarchy and therefore hides A::x).
Here is an example of how you can still access A::x using different casts.
#include <iostream>
struct A {
int x = 0;
void setX(int i) { x = i; }
};
struct B : A {
int x = 20;
};
int main()
{
B obj;
A castToA = static_cast<A>(obj);
A* castToAPtr = reinterpret_cast<A*>(&obj);
std::cout
<< "access via B: " << obj.x << "\n"
<< "access via A: " << castToA.x << "\n"
<< "access via A*: " << castToAPtr->x << "\n"
<< "access via B::(A::x): " << obj.A::x << "\n\n";
obj.setX(100);
std::cout << "set x to 100\n\n";
std::cout
<< "access via B: " << obj.x << "\n"
<< "access via A: " << castToA.x << "\n"
<< "access via A*: " << castToAPtr->x << "\n"
<< "access via B::(A::x): " << obj.A::x << "\n\n";
return 0;
}
which yields the output:
access via B: 20
access via A: 0
access via A*: 0
access via B::A::x: 0
set x to 100
access via B: 20
access via A: 0
access via A*: 100
access via B::A::x: 100
Your class B has an x and also A has an X. As this, you have two x in B!
So you may remove the x from your B class?
If you need both, you can access them with
A::x or B::x inside a method of B which you already did.
So your D class have also both x and calling setX calls the setX method of A. As in D you see the x from B which hides your x from A everything works as expected.
Your method A::setX did not know that you derive later from it. If you want to override the method, B has define a own B::setX which will then also be used in D.
Example how to override a method and access the parameter in derived class:
class A
{
public:
int x; // A::x
int y = 40; // A::y
// this function only knows about A::x
void setX(int i){ x = i; cout << "setxA" << endl; }
void setY(int i){ y = i; cout << "setyA" << endl; }
};
class B : public A
{
public:
int x =30; // this x ( B::x) hide A::x
int y =50; // this y hides also A::y
// now we override setY from A ( hiding setY from A! )
void setY(int i){ y = i; cout << "setyB" << endl; }
};
class D : public B {
public:
void func() {
setX(10); // Calls A::setX, as A::setX only knows about
// A::x it will access A::x
cout << "X" << std::endl;
cout << x << endl;
cout << B::x << endl;
cout << A::x << endl;
setY(90);
cout << "Y" << std::endl;
cout << y << endl;
cout << B::y << endl;
cout << A::y << endl;
}
};
int main()
{
D d;
d.func();
return 0;
}

How change class of a C++ object (implementing a variadic type)

First off: I know that it is generally a bad idea to change an object's class, but I'm implementing my own programming language, and it has variables that can contain values of any type, and even change their type at will, so please assume I'm not a beginner not understanding OO basics.
Currently, I implement my variant variables in C. Each one has a pointer to a table of function pointers, containing functions like SetAsInt(), SetAsString() etc., followed by what would be instance variables in C++. All objects are the same size.
When a variable contains a string and someone assigns an Int to it, I manually call the destructor, change the table of function pointers to point to the table used for variadic int values, and then set its int instance variable.
This is a bit hard to maintain, as every time I add a new type, I have to add a new table of function pointers and fill out all the function pointers in it. Structs of function pointers seem to be very badly type-checked, and missing fields don't lead to complaints, so I can easily accidentally forget one pointer in the list and get interesting crashes. Also, I have to repeat all the function pointers that are the same in most types.
I'd like to implement my variadic types in C++ instead, where a lot of this type-checking and inheriting default behaviours is done for me by the compiler. Is there a safe way to do this?
PS - I know I could create a wrapper object and use new to allocate a new object, but I can't have the additional extra allocation overhead for every int variable on the stack.
PPS - The code needs to be portable across Linux, Mac, iOS and Windows for now, but if someone has a standard C++ solution, that would be even better.
PPPS - The list of types is extensible, but predetermined at compile-time. The base layer of my language defines just the basic types, but the host application my language is compiled into adds a few more types.
Usage Example:
CppVariant someNum(42); // Creates it as CppVariantInt.
cout << "Original int: " << someNum->GetAsInt()
<< " (" << someNum->GetAsDouble() << ")" << endl;
someNum->SetAsInt(700); // This is just a setter call.
cout << "Changed int: " << someNum->GetAsInt()
<< " (" << someNum->GetAsDouble() << ")" << endl;
someNum->SetAsDouble(12.34); // This calls destructor on CppVariantInt and constructor on CppVariantDouble(12.34).
cout << "Converted to Double: " << someNum->GetAsInt()
<< " (" << someNum->GetAsDouble() << ")" << endl; // GetAsInt() on a CppVariantDouble() rounds, or whatever.
(Imagine that beyond double and int, there would be other types in the future, like strings or booleans, but the caller of GetAsInt()/SetAsInt() shouldn't have to know what it is stored as, as long as it can be converted at runtime)
Here is a solution based on type-erasure, union and template specializations.
I'm not sure it fits your requirements.
Anyway, here is what it gets:
Anything is placed on the dynamic storage
No hierarchy required
You can easily improve it further to reduce the amount of code, but this aims to serve as a base point from which to start.
It follows a minimal, working example based on the intended use in the question:
#include<iostream>
class CppVariant {
union var {
var(): i{0} {}
int i;
double d;
};
using AsIntF = int(*)(var);
using AsDoubleF = double(*)(var);
template<typename From, typename To>
static To protoAs(var);
public:
CppVariant(int);
CppVariant(double);
int getAsInt();
double getAsDouble();
void setAsInt(int);
void setAsDouble(double);
private:
var data;
AsIntF asInt;
AsDoubleF asDouble;
};
template<>
int CppVariant::protoAs<int, int>(var data) {
return data.i;
}
template<>
int CppVariant::protoAs<double, int>(var data) {
return int(data.d);
}
template<>
double CppVariant::protoAs<int, double>(var data) {
return double(data.i);
}
template<>
double CppVariant::protoAs<double, double>(var data) {
return data.d;
}
CppVariant::CppVariant(int i)
: data{},
asInt{&protoAs<int, int>},
asDouble{&protoAs<int, double>}
{ data.i = i; }
CppVariant::CppVariant(double d)
: data{},
asInt{&protoAs<double, int>},
asDouble{&protoAs<double, double>}
{ data.d = d; }
int CppVariant::getAsInt() { return asInt(data); }
double CppVariant::getAsDouble() { return asDouble(data); }
void CppVariant::setAsInt(int i) {
data.i = i;
asInt = &protoAs<int, int>;
asDouble = &protoAs<int, double>;
}
void CppVariant::setAsDouble(double d) {
data.d = d;
asInt = &protoAs<double, int>;
asDouble = &protoAs<double, double>;
}
int main() {
CppVariant someNum(42);
std::cout << "Original int: " << someNum.getAsInt() << " (" << someNum.getAsDouble() << ")" << std::endl;
someNum.setAsInt(700);
std::cout << "Changed int: " << someNum.getAsInt() << " (" << someNum.getAsDouble() << ")" << std::endl;
someNum.setAsDouble(12.34);
std::cout << "Converted to Double: " << someNum.getAsInt() << " (" << someNum.getAsDouble() << ")" << std::endl;
}
On a lark, I tried using placement new to do this, and I have ... something ... It compiles, it does the job, but I'm not sure if it's an improvement over pure C. Since I can't have a union of C++ objects, I create a CPPVMAX() macro to pass the largest sizeof() of all subclasses as the size to mBuf[], but that's not really pretty either.
#include <iostream>
#include <string>
#include <cmath>
#define CPPVMAX2(a,b) (((a) > (b)) ? (a) : (b))
#define CPPVMAX3(a,b,c) CPPVMAX2((a),CPPVMAX2((b),(c)))
using namespace std;
class CppVariantBase
{
public:
CppVariantBase() { cout << "CppVariantBase constructor." << endl; }
virtual ~CppVariantBase() { cout << "CppVariantBase destructor." << endl; }
virtual int GetAsInt() = 0;
virtual double GetAsDouble() = 0;
virtual void SetAsInt( int n );
virtual void SetAsDouble( double n );
};
class CppVariantInt : public CppVariantBase
{
public:
CppVariantInt( int n = 0 ) : mInt(n)
{
cout << "CppVariantInt constructor." << endl;
}
~CppVariantInt() { cout << "CppVariantInt destructor." << endl; }
virtual int GetAsInt() { return mInt; }
virtual double GetAsDouble() { return mInt; }
virtual void SetAsInt( int n ) { mInt = n; }
protected:
int mInt;
};
class CppVariantDouble : public CppVariantBase
{
public:
CppVariantDouble( double n = 0 ) : mDouble(n)
{
cout << "CppVariantDouble constructor." << endl;
}
~CppVariantDouble()
{
cout << "CppVariantDouble destructor." << endl;
}
virtual int GetAsInt()
{
if( int(mDouble) == mDouble )
return mDouble;
else
return round(mDouble);
}
virtual double GetAsDouble() { return mDouble; }
virtual void SetAsDouble( int n ) { mDouble = n; }
protected:
double mDouble;
};
class CppVariant
{
public:
CppVariant( int n = 0 ) { new (mBuf) CppVariantInt(n); }
~CppVariant() { ((CppVariantBase*)mBuf)->~CppVariantBase(); }
operator CppVariantBase* () { return (CppVariantBase*)mBuf; }
CppVariantBase* operator -> () { return (CppVariantBase*)mBuf; }
protected:
uint8_t mBuf[CPPVMAX3(sizeof(CppVariantBase),sizeof(CppVariantInt),sizeof(CppVariantDouble))];
};
void CppVariantBase::SetAsInt( int n )
{
this->~CppVariantBase();
new (this) CppVariantInt(n);
}
void CppVariantBase::SetAsDouble( double n )
{
this->~CppVariantBase();
new (this) CppVariantDouble(n);
}
int main(int argc, const char * argv[]) {
CppVariant someNum(42);
cout << "Original int: " << someNum->GetAsInt()
<< " (" << someNum->GetAsDouble() << ")" << endl;
someNum->SetAsInt(700); // This is just a setter call.
cout << "Changed int: " << someNum->GetAsInt()
<< " (" << someNum->GetAsDouble() << ")" << endl;
someNum->SetAsDouble(12.34); // This changes the class to CppVariantDouble.
cout << "Converted to Double: " << someNum->GetAsInt()
<< " (" << someNum->GetAsDouble() << ")" << endl;
return 0;
}