Understanding how imports are working in C++ - c++

I'm trying to understand how including works in C++. I have two questions about it. The first one is on how properly import the .h file. For example I created the following HashNode.h file:
namespace HashNode{
template<class Data>
class HashNode{
private:
Data data;
HashNode *next;
public:
explicit HashNode(const Data &data);
Data getKey();
~Node();
};
}
So in the HashNode.cpp file, it should like:
#include "HashNode.h"
using namespace HashNode;
template <class Data> // ~~~ HERE 1 ~~~
HashNode::HashNode(const Data &data) {//todo};
template <class Data> // ~~~ HERE 2 ~~~
Data* HashNode::getKey() {
//todo
}
HashNode::~Node() {
//todo
}
This way it works but do I have to include template <class Data> beside each function which uses Data? Why it does not recognize Data without including template <class Data>?
Also I have created the Hash.h file which should use the HashNode.h file:
#include "HashNode.h"
using namespace HashNode;
namespace Hash {
template <class Data>
class Hash {
typedef enum {
GOOD = 0,
BAD = -1,
BAD_ALLOC = -2
} Status;
private:
HashNode **hash;
int capacity;
int size;
public:
explicit Hash(int size);
Status insertData(const Data &data);
~Hash();
};
}
But I get the the following error: Can't resolve type 'HashNode'. Why it can't see the import?
In the Hash.cpp file I get Unused import statement for #include "HashNode.h". Why is that?
Also, what if I want to include private functions - should them be in the .h file or in the .cpp file?

The member functions of a template class are themselves also templates. Because of this, they need to be defined with any required template parameters and template type definitions.
About your second question, it has to do with namespaces. As I see it, having namespace and class under the same naming might cause you ambiguity. Although, everything seems to be fine on the structural side of the code. Try using #pragma once or some kind of guards to prevent this kind of issues.

Related

Type switcher based on enum C++

all!
I want write a template structure, which will give me concrete name of a class based on enum. In details:
in .h file
#include "Mish.h"
#include "ReLU.h"
namespace a
{
namespace b
{
enum class ActivationEnum : size_t
{
Mish,
ReLU
};
template <ActivationEnum act>
struct Activation
{
};
template <>
struct Activation<ActivationEnum::Mish>
{
using aType = Mish;
};
template <>
struct Activation<ActivationEnum::ReLU>
{
using aType = ReLU;
};
} // raul namespace
}
Then I want to use it in code as:
void someF(..., ActivationEnum act)
{
...
OtherClass<Activation<act>::aType> bla;
...
}
I've faced with two problems:
Mish and ReLU are implemented in Mish.cpp and ReLU.cpp files in namespace a, includes are here, but I got errors syntax error: identifier 'ReLU' and syntax error: identifier 'Mish'. If I add forward declaration here such as namespace a { class Mish; class ReLU; ... } then everything is ok here.
No matter in function someF I receive invalid template argument for 'a::b::Activation', expected compile-time constant expression
What are the problems? How can I return different typenames based on enum? Thank you.

Compiling hybrid classes (templated and untemplated functions) into a static library

I'm writing a game engine lib, for the sake of science. I've written static libs successfully in the past, although there were no templated functions.
When dealing with templated functions, I use to sepparate their code from the untemplated ones. Templated functions code lie in the header file, while the others in the .cpp/.hpp file.
Below is a snippet of one of it's modules: signals.
// Connection.h
#pragma once
#include <memory>
#include <functional>
namespace mqs
{
using Disconnector = std::function<void(std::uint32_t)>;
class Connection final
{
public:
explicit Connection(std::shared_ptr<mqs::Disconnector> disconnector, std::uint32_t index);
bool connected() const;
void disconnect() const;
private:
std::uint32_t index;
std::weak_ptr<mqs::Disconnector> disconnector;
};
}
// Signal.h
#pragma once
#include <vector>
#include "connection.hpp"
namespace mqs
{
template <typename...>
class Signal;
template <typename R, typename... A>
class Signal<R(A...)> final
{
public:
Signal();
template <typename Lambda>
mqs::Connection connect(Lambda&& lambda) {
slots.push_back(std::forward<Lambda>(lambda));
return mqs::Connection(disconnector, slots.size() - 1U);
}
void operator()(A&&... args) const;
unsigned connections() const;
private:
std::vector<std::function<R(A...)>> slots;
std::shared_ptr<mqs::Disconnector> disconnector;
};
}
// Connection.hpp
#pragma once
#include "connection.h"
namespace mqs
{
Connection::Connection(std::shared_ptr<mqs::Disconnector> disconnector, std::uint32_t index) {
this->index = index;
this->disconnector = disconnector;
}
bool Connection::connected() const {
return !disconnector.expired();
}
void Connection::disconnect() const {
if (const auto& lock = disconnector.lock()) {
lock->operator()(index);
}
}
}
// Signal.hpp
#pragma once
#include "signal.h"
namespace mqs
{
template <typename R, typename... A>
Signal<R(A...)>::Signal() {
disconnector = std::make_shared<mqs::Disconnector>([this](std::uint32_t index) {
slots.erase(slots.begin() + index);
});
}
template <typename R, typename... A>
void Signal<R(A...)>::operator()(A&&... args) const {
for (auto& slot : slots) {
slot(std::forward<A>(args)...);
}
}
template <typename R, typename... A>
unsigned Signal<R(A...)>::connections() const {
return slots.size();
}
}
It compiles and all, however one of the problems I've been dealing with, is that mqs::Signal (signal.hpp) cannot be included in different headers or it will cause a function already has a body. When including signal.h I get unresolved external symbol which makes sense.
I've also tried making inline all the functions defined in their .hpp files above.
Is there any way to achieve this other than using huge header-only approaches?
As you already figured out, you need to make the function templates inline. This is necessary because the templates first need to be instantiated to become compilable functions, and that means the compiler needs source code.
However, if you look at members like Signal<R(A...)>::disconnector;, you'll notice that they are not dependent on R or A.... Hence, you could move them to a non-template base class.
There's a fairly common convention to use the extension .ipp for implementation files that still need to be included, e.g. because they contain template code. These will typically be included by the corresponding .hpp file, just before the #endif of the header guard. Therefore an .ipp file doesn't need its own header guard.

error C2995:function template has already been defined

there are many solutions to this question bot nothing answers my case.
I am using VS 2008.I am tring to create a map using Binary search tree
#ifndef _map_h
#define _map_h
#include<string>
using namespace std;
template <typename ValType>
class Map
{
public:
Map();
~Map();
ValType getvalue(string key);
void add(string key,ValType value);
private:
struct node{
string key;
ValType value;
node *right;
node *left;
};
node *root;
node *treeSearch(string key,node *t);
void treeEnter(string key,ValType value,node *&t);
};
#include"map.cpp"
#endif
map.cpp
#include<string>
#include<iostream>
#include"map.h"
using namespace std;
template <typename ValType>
Map<ValType>::Map(){
root=NULL;
}
template <typename ValType>
Map<ValType>::~Map(){
delete root;
}
template <typename ValType>
ValType Map<ValType>::getvalue(string key){
node *found=treeSearch(key,root);
if(found==NULL)
cout<<"Couldnot Found the node";
else return found->value;
}
template <typename ValType>
typename Map<ValType>::node *Map<ValType>::treeSearch(string key,node *t){
if(t==NULL) return NULL;
if(t->key==key) return t;
if(t->key>key) treeSearch(key,t->left);
else treeSearch(key,t->right);
}
template <typename ValType>
void Map<ValType>::add(string key,ValType value){
treeEnter(key,value,root);
}
template <typename ValType>
void Map<ValType>::treeEnter(string key,ValType value,node *&t){
if(t==NULL){
t->value=value;
t->key=key;
t->left=NULL;
t->right=NULL;
}
else if(t->key==key) t->value=value;
else if(t->key>key) treeEnter(key,value,t->left);
else treeEnter(key,value,t->right);
}
Error:For all the functions its saying that they are already been defined.
I am following Stanford online course and the same worked for the instructor(she was using mac)
You have included map.h into map.cpp and map.cpp into map.h. The include guards in map.h will prevent multiple inclusion of map.h and will prevent infinite recursive inclusion. However, if you feed map.cpp to the compiler directly (which is what you are apparently trying to do) it will include map.h once and then map.h will include map.cpp itself one more time. This is what is causing the error.
If you want to implement your template as .cpp file included into .h file, you can do that. This is weird, but it can be forced to work. First and foremost, if you decided to #include your map.cpp, then don't even attempt to compile your map.cpp. Don't feed your map.cpp directly to the compiler. Also, remove #include "map.h" from that .cpp file. There's absolutely no point in doing that.
Your program will have other implementation files, like, say, myprogram.cpp, which will use your map. That myprogram.cpp should include map.h. That myprogram.cpp is what you will feed to the compiler. That way it will work as intended. But trying to compile map.cpp directly will only result in errors.
A better idea though would be not to put anything into a .cpp file. Either put everything into .h file or, if you really want to have it split that way, rename your .cpp file into something else to make it clear to everyone that this is not a translation unit.
In my case, I missed include guards or #pragma once at the top of the header where I defined a template function.

Templates and separate compilation

I want to write a program in C++ with separate compilation and I wrote this:
main.cpp
#include <iostream>
#include "Stack.h"
using namespace std;
int main(int argc,char* argv[])
{
Stack<int> st;
st.push(1);
return 0;
}
Stack.h
#ifndef _STACK_H
#define _STACK_H
template<typename T>
class Stack
{
private:
struct Node
{
Node* _prev;
T _data;
Node* _next;
};
int _size;
Node* _pos;
public:
Stack();
T pop();
void push(T const &el);
int getSize() const;
};
#endif
Stack.hpp
#include "Stack.h"
#include <malloc.h>
template <typename T>
Stack<T>::Stack()
{
_size = 0;
_pos = (Node*)malloc(sizeof(Node));
_pos->_prev = NULL;
_pos->_next = NULL;
}
template <typename T>
T Stack<T>::pop()
{
if (_size == 0)
return NULL;
T tmp = _pos->_data;
if (_pos->_prev == NULL)
free(_pos);
else
{
_pos->_prev->_next = _pos->_next;
if (_pos->_next != NULL)
{
_pos->_next->_prev = _pos->_prev;
}
free(_pos);
}
_size--;
return tmp;
}
template <typename T>
void Stack<T>::push(T const &el)
{
Node* n = (Node*)malloc(sizeof(Node));
_pos->_next = n;
n->_prev = _pos;
n->_data = *el;
_pos = n;
_size ++;
}
template<typename T>
int Stack<T>::getSize() const {return _size;};
I compiled the program with g++ and I get this error:
ccyDhLTv.o:main.cpp:(.text+0x16): undefin
ed reference to `Stack<int>::Stack()'
ccyDhLTv.o:main.cpp:(.text+0x32): undefin
ed reference to `Stack<int>::push(int const&)'
collect2: ld returned 1 exit status
I know that the problem is because I'm using templates but I do not know how to fix it.
OS - Windows
compilation line - g++ main.cpp Stack.h Stack.hpp -o main.exe
Template classes need to have the method definitions inside the header file.
Move the code you have in the .cpp file inside the header, or create a file called .impl or .imp, move the code there, and include it in the header.
The compiler needs to know the method definitions to generate code for all specializations.
Before you ask, no, there is no way to keep the implementation outside the header.
I would say it will be more pragmatic to first understand how separate compilation works for normal (untempelated) files and then understand how g++ compiler does it for template.
First in normal files, when the header file containing only the declarations are #included in main file, the preprocessor replaces the declarations from the header and puts it to the main file. Then after the preprocessing phase is over, the compiler does one by one compilation of the pure C++ source code contained in .cpp files and translates it into object file. At this point the compiler doesn't mind the missing definitions (of functions/classes) and the object files can refer to symbols that are not defined. The compiler, hence can compile the source code as long as it is well formed.
Then during the linking stage the compiler links several files together and it is during this stage the linker will produce error on missing/duplicate definitions. If the function definition is correctly present in the other file then the linker proceeds and the function called from the main file is successfully linked to the definition and can be used.
For templates, things work differently. It will be illustrative to consider an example, so I pick a simple one:
consider the header file for template array class:
array.h
#ifndef _TEMPLATE_ARRAY_H_
#define _TEMPLATE_ARRAY_H_
template <class T>
class Array
{
private:
T *m_list;
int m_length;
public:
Array() //default constructor
{
m_list = nullptr;
m_length = 0;
}
Array(int length)
{
m_list = new T[length];
m_length = length;
}
~Arrary()
{
delete[] m_list;
m_list = nullptr;
}
//undefined functions
int getLength();
T getElement(const int pos);
};
and the corresponding array.cpp file :
include "array.h"
template <class T>
array<T>::getLength()
{ return m_length; }
template <class T>
T Array<T>::getElement(const int pos)
{ return m_list[pos]; }
Now consider the main file where two instances of the templated object array, one for int and another for double is created.
main.cpp
#include "array.h"
#include <iostream>
int main()
{
Array<int> int_array;
Array<double> double_array;
std::cout << int_array.getLength() <<"\n";
std::cout << double_array.getLength() << "\n";
}
When this piece of code is compiled, the preprocessor first copies the template declarations from the header file to the main file as usual. Because in the main file Array< int > and Array< double > objects are instantiated, compiler instantiates two different definitions of Array class, one each for double and int and then instantiate the Array objects in the main.cpp file.
Note till this point the function definitions for Array< int >::getLength() and Array< double >::getLength() is still missing in the main.cpp file but since the source code is well formed the compiler compiles the main.cpp file without any hassle. In short there's no difference b/w templated object/function compilation and non-templated function compilation till now.
In the meanwhile the code file for array.cpp containing the template function definitions for Array< T >::getLength() and Array< T >::getElement() is compiled, but by this time the compiler would have forgotten that main.cpp needs Array< int >::getLength() and Array< double >::getLength() and would happily compile the code array.cpp without generating any instances for int and double version of the function definition needed by the main.cpp file. (Remember that compiler compiles each file separately!)
It is during the linking phase horrible template errors start popping because of the missing function definitions for int and double version of template function definition that are required by the main file. In the case of non-template declarations and definitions, the programmer makes sure to define the sought function in a file which can be linked together with the file calling the function. But in the case of templates, the linker which executes after the compilation phase, cannot do a task that a compiler is suppose to do, i.e generate a code, in this case for int and double type of the template function
There are ways to get around this
Having gone through the entire story, one can easily conclude that the entire fuss up around template separate compilation is due to linkage (i.e) if all codes are written correctly, class and functions declared in header and defined in another separate file). Ways of getting around this are :
Define the class and functions in the header files themselves rather than in separate file so that the contents of header file when included in the main file, includes the templated definitions which cause appropriate instances of necessary functions to be defined by the compiler.
Instantiate the type definitions you know you will need in the separate file where the template definitions are written. This will then directly be linked to the function calls in the main file.
Another way to get around this is to name the .cpp file where definitions are written to .inl* file (from the e.g drawn above, chagne array.cpp to array.inl); inl means inline and include the .inl file from the bottom of the header file. This yields the same result as defining all functions within the header file but helps keeping the code a little cleaner.
There's another way, i.e #include .cpp file with templated definitions in the main file which I personally don't prefer because of non-standard usage of #include.
It is absolutely possible to have templates and separate compilation, but only if you know in advance for which types the template will be instantiated.
Header file sep_head.h:
template< typename T >
class sep{
public:
sep() {};
void f();
};
Main:
#include "sep_head.h"
int main() {
sep<int> s; s.f();
sep<double> sd; sd.f();
sep<char> sc; sc.f();
return 0;
}
Implementation:
#include "sep_head.h"
template< typename T >
void sep<T>::f() {}
template class sep<int>;
template class sep<double>;
template class sep<char>;

Understanding template classes in c++ - problem with new-operator

Dear all, I've been stuck with this problem now for a few days and my searches were not successful.
What I am trying to do:
I want a template reader class (VariableReader) to handle different types of variables (usually unsigned int and pointers to vector).
I started with
#ifndef READER_H_
#define READER_H_
#include <string>
namespace BAT {
template <typename variableType = unsigned int>
class VariableReader {
public:
VariableReader<variableType>();
VariableReader<variableType>(std::string varName);
virtual ~VariableReader<variableType>();
std::string getVariableName();
void setVariableName(std::string varName);
bool isValidVariableName(std::string varName);
variableType getVariable();
private:
std::string variableName;
variableType variable;
};
}
#endif
and
#include "../../interface/Readers/VariableReader.h"
namespace BAT {
template<typename variableType>
VariableReader<variableType>::VariableReader() :
variableName("") {
// TODO Auto-generated constructor stub
}
template <typename variableType>
VariableReader<variableType>::VariableReader(std::string varName) :
variableName(varName) {
}
template <typename variableType>
std::string VariableReader<variableType>::getVariableName() {
return variableName;
}
template <typename variableType>
void VariableReader<variableType>::setVariableName(std::string varName) {
if (VariableReader::isValidVariableName(varName)) {
variableName = varName;
}
}
template <typename variableType>
bool VariableReader<variableType>::isValidVariableName(std::string varName) {
return varName != "";
}
template <typename variableType>
VariableReader<variableType>::~VariableReader() {
// TODO Auto-generated destructor stub
}
}
However, although it seems to compile I can't use it within other projects.
EDIT: forgot to post test-code:
#include "cute.h"
#include "ide_listener.h"
#include "cute_runner.h"
#include "Readers/VariableReader.h"
using namespace BAT;
static VariableReader<int> *reader;
void setUp(){
reader = new VariableReader<int>::VariableReader();//this is problem-line
}
void thisIsATest() {
ASSERTM("start writing tests", false);
}
void runSuite(){
cute::suite s;
//TODO add your test here
s.push_back(CUTE(thisIsATest));
cute::ide_listener lis;
cute::makeRunner(lis)(s, "The Suite");
}
int main(){
runSuite();
}
I get following error message:
Building target: BAT_Tests
Invoking: GCC C++ Linker
g++ -L"/workspace/BAT/Debug Gcov" -fprofile-arcs -ftest-coverage -std=c99 -o"BAT_Tests" ./src/Test.o -lBAT
./src/Test.o: In function `setUp()':
/workspace/BAT_Tests/Debug Gcov/../src/Test.cpp:13: undefined reference to `BAT::VariableReader<int>::VariableReader()'
collect2: ld returned 1 exit status
make: *** [BAT_Tests] Error 1
As I understand it the linker tries to find the constructor for VariableReader, which is not explicitly defined since I want to have a general constructor only.
Please help me to understand what I am missing.
The C++ FAQ Lite section on How can I avoid linker errors with my template functions? shows two solutions:
Move the template class's methods into the .h file (or a file included by the .h file).
Instantiate the template in the .cpp file using template VariableReader<unsigned int>;.
The constructor(s) and destructor doesn't need the template arguments in it. In addition, template classes must have the full source available to compile- you can't declare the members and define them in another translation unit like you can with normal classes.