C++ using vector iterator correctly - c++

I'm new to C++ and I have a vector of doctors.
I add a new doctor with the following code:
void DoctorAdmin::setDoctor(std::string lastname, std::string forename,
Person::Sex sex){
//Create new doctor
Doctor* doc = new Doctor(lastname, forename, sex);
//insert at the end of the vector
doctors.push_back(doc);
}
Then I want to show their information on the console:
void DoctorAdmin::showDoctors(){
cout << "Doctors:" << endl;
cout << "Name" << "\t\t\t" << "Forename" << "\t\t\t" << "Sex" << endl;
for (vector<Doctor*>::iterator i = doctors.begin(); i != doctors.end(); i++){
Doctors* doc = doctors.at(i);
cout << doc->getName() << "\t\t\t" << doc->getForename() << "\t\t\t"
<< doc->getSex() << endl;
}
After doing it like this I get two Errors:
E0304 No instance of overloaded function "std::vector<_Ty, _Alloc>::at [mit _Ty=Doctors *, _Alloc=std::allocator<Doctors *>]" matches the argument list.
// and
C2664 "Doctors *const &std::vector<Doctors *,std::allocator<_Ty>>::at(const unsigned int) const" : cannot convert from Argument "std::_Vector_iterator<std::_Vector_val<std::_Simple_types<_Ty>>>" in "const unsigned int"
How do I use the vector iterator correctly to avoid this?

An iterator is not index-like, it is pointer-like.
for (vector<Arzt*>::iterator doc = aerzte.begin(); doc != aerzte.end(); doc++)
{
cout << (*doc)->getName() << "\t\t\t" << (*doc)->getVorname() << "\t\t\t"
<< (*doc)->getGeschlecht() << endl;
}
It seems like you are confused as to when you need to new things too. Most of the time you don't need new
vector<Arzt> aerzte;
void ArztAdmin::anlegenArzt(std::string name, std::string vorname, Person::Geschlecht geschlecht){
// Create new doctor at the end of the vector
aerzte.emplace_back(name, vorname, geschlecht);
}
You can also directly bind references as loop variables
for (Arzt & doc : aerzte)
{
cout << doc.getName() << "\t\t\t" << doc.getVorname() << "\t\t\t"
<< doc.getGeschlecht() << endl;
}

The at function requires an index, but a vector<Arzt*>::iterator is not an index, neither semantically nor technically. An iterator points directly to an element, whereas an index represents the distance between a container's start and the element in a container that allows random element access.
Because an iterator points directly to an element, the at function isn't even necessary in your loop. *i yields the element:
Arzt* doc = *i;
Beginning with C++11, the code for such simple loops can be written in a shorter way using auto:
for (auto i = aerzte.begin(); i != aerzte.end(); i++){
The compiler knows what type i really is because it knows what begin() returns.
Even better, use a range-based loop:
for (auto doc : aerzte){
cout << doc->getName() << "\t\t\t" << doc->getVorname() << "\t\t\t"
<< doc->getGeschlecht() << endl;
}
And while we're at it, don't use dynamic memory allocation when you don't have to. This isn't Java or C#; new is dangerous territory in C++ and should be avoided:
#include <vector>
#include <string>
#include <iostream>
struct Arzt
{
Arzt(std::string const& name, std::string const& vorname) :
name(name),
vorname(vorname)
{
}
std::string name;
std::string vorname;
// Geschlecht omitted for brevity's sake
};
int main()
{
std::vector<Arzt> aerzte;
Arzt doc1("foo", "bar");
Arzt doc2("foo", "bar");
Arzt doc3("foo", "bar");
aerzte.push_back(doc1);
aerzte.push_back(doc2);
aerzte.push_back(doc3);
for (auto const& arzt : aerzte)
{
std::cout << arzt.name << ' ' << arzt.vorname << '\n';
}
}
As you are no longer iterating over pointers but over larger objects, const& should be used in the for loop.

Related

Weird behavior of std::pair second when returned from a function

#include<boost/unordered_map.hpp>
#include<string>
#include<iostream>
#include<boost/unordered_set.hpp>
using namespace std;
typedef boost::unordered_map<string, boost::unordered_map<string, boost::unordered_set<string>>> nfa;
const boost::unordered_map<string, boost::unordered_set<string>>&
get_second(const std::pair<string,
boost::unordered_map<string, boost::unordered_set<string>>>& p)
{return p.second;}
int main()
{
nfa a;
a["A"]["0"] = {"B", "C"};
a["A"]["1"] = {"B"};
a["B"]["0"] = {"B"};
a["B"]["1"] = {"C"};
cout << "Printing using direct reference" << endl;
for (auto tr_table : a)
{
for (auto tr : tr_table.second)
cout << tr_table.first << " " << tr.first << " " << tr.second.size() << endl;
}
cout << "Printing using function get_second" << endl;
for (auto tr_table : a)
{
for (auto tr : get_second(tr_table))
cout << tr_table.first << " " << tr.first << " " << tr.second.size() << endl;
}
return 0;
}
For the same unordered_map, using tr.second returns the correct number of rows but using get_second returns a new map element with no elements.
What is the reason for this behavior?
I am using g++ 5.3.1 on Ubuntu.
PS: The behavior is same when std::unordered_map is used.
get_second takes a pair of the wrong type, with a non-const key.
Therefore a converted temporary is constructed and you are returning a reference to this temporary.
All bets are off after that.
Your get_second method parameter doesn't match the loop iterator in terms of constness... update as follows (note const string in pair) and it works:
get_second( const std::pair<const string,
unordered_map<string, unordered_set<string>>>& p )
Be noted that std::unordered_map's value_type is std::pair<const Key, T> (it's const Key), so your get_second()'s parameter is wrong.
You can simply change to get_second(const nfa::value_type& p) to get correct behavior.

How to print a map

I am trying to print a map in an organized way. My map is defined like this:
map<std::string,std::vector<message *> > data;
where message is a struct like this:
struct message{
static unsigned int last_id;
unsigned int id;
std::string msg;
std::string timestamp;
message(const std::string& recvbuf_msg,const std::string& a_timestamp) :
msg(recvbuf_msg), timestamp(a_timestamp), id(++last_id)
{
}
};
I tried this way of printing it:
std::cout << (data[username]).at(0)->msg << std::endl;
But it gives a debug error when reaching that function, how can i solve it?
Error R6010 - abort() has been called suggests that either there is no entry for key username in the map, or the vector of messages for that user is empty. You need to make sure the containers are nonempty before accessing elements. It is a good idea to use iterators, here is an example of how to print the messages for all usernames:
for(auto mapIt = data.cbegin(); mapIt != data.cend(); ++mapIt)
{
std::cout << "printing data for " << mapIt->first << ":" << std::endl;
for(auto vectIter = mapIt->second.cbegin(); vectIter != mapIt->second.cend(); ++vectIter)
{
std::cout << (*vectIter)->msg << ", " << (*vectIter)->timestamp << ", "
<< (*vectIter)->id << std::endl;
}
}
The code uses auto, so if you are not using a C++11 compliant compiler, you will have to write the iterator types yourself.

Moving objects from one unordered_map to another container

My question is that of safety. I've searched cplusplus.com and cppreference.com and they seem to be lacking on iterator safety during std::move. Specifically: is it safe to call std::unordered_map::erase(iterator) with an iterator whose object has been moved? Sample code:
#include <unordered_map>
#include <string>
#include <vector>
#include <iostream>
#include <memory>
class A {
public:
A() : name("default ctored"), value(-1) {}
A(const std::string& name, int value) : name(name), value(value) { }
std::string name;
int value;
};
typedef std::shared_ptr<const A> ConstAPtr;
int main(int argc, char **argv) {
// containers keyed by shared_ptr are keyed by the raw pointer address
std::unordered_map<ConstAPtr, int> valued_objects;
for ( int i = 0; i < 10; ++i ) {
// creates 5 objects named "name 0", and 5 named "name 1"
std::string name("name ");
name += std::to_string(i % 2);
valued_objects[std::make_shared<A>(std::move(name), i)] = i * 5;
}
// Later somewhere else we need to transform the map to be keyed differently
// while retaining the values for each object
typedef std::pair<ConstAPtr, int> ObjValue;
std::unordered_map<std::string, std::vector<ObjValue> > named_objects;
std::cout << "moving..." << std::endl;
// No increment since we're using .erase() and don't want to skip objects.
for ( auto it = valued_objects.begin(); it != valued_objects.end(); ) {
std::cout << it->first->name << "\t" << it->first.value << "\t" << it->second << std::endl;
// Get named_vec.
std::vector<ObjValue>& v = named_objects[it->first->name];
// move object :: IS THIS SAFE??
v.push_back(std::move(*it));
// And then... is this also safe???
it = valued_objects.erase(it);
}
std::cout << "checking... " << named_objects.size() << std::endl;
for ( auto it = named_objects.begin(); it != named_objects.end(); ++it ) {
std::cout << it->first << " (" << it->second.size() << ")" << std::endl;
for ( auto pair : it->second ) {
std::cout << "\t" << pair.first->name << "\t" << pair.first->value << "\t" << pair.second << std::endl;
}
}
std::cout << "double check... " << valued_objects.size() << std::endl;
for ( auto it : valued_objects ) {
std::cout << it.first->name << " (" << it.second << ")" << std::endl;
}
return 0;
}
The reason I ask is that it strikes me that moving the pair from the unordered_map's iterator may (?) therefore *re*move the iterator's stored key value and therefore invalidate its hash; therefore any operations on it afterward could result in undefined behavior. Unless that's not so?
I do think it's worth noting that the above appears to successfully work as intended in GCC 4.8.2 so I'm looking to see if I missed documentation supporting or explicitly not supporting the behavior.
// move object :: IS THIS SAFE??
v.push_back(std::move(*it));
Yes, it is safe, because this doesn't actually modify the key. It cannot, because the key is const. The type of *it is std::pair<const ConstAPtr, int>. When it is moved, the first member (the const ConstAPtr) is not actually moved. It is converted to an r-value by std::move, and becomes const ConstAPtr&&. But that doesn't match the move constructor, which expects a non-const ConstAPtr&&. So the copy constructor is called instead.

C++ STL map with custom comparator storing null pointers

I'm trying to write a copy constructor for an object managing a STL map containing pointers, where the key is a string. However, when I attempt to insert new values in the map, the pointers are set to NULL:
// ...
for(std::map<std::string, data_base*, order>::const_iterator it = other.elements.begin();
it != other.elements.end(); ++it){
data_base *t = it->second->clone();
std::cout << "CLONE: " << std::hex << t << std::endl;
elements[it->first] = t;
std::cout << "INSERTED: " << std::hex << elements[it->first] << std::endl;
}
// ...
other is the object being copied and elements the map. The clone() method returns a pointer to a new object (via new).
Running the code above I get something like:
CLONE: 0xcfbbc0
INSERTED: 0
I'm not a very experienced programmer and this issue is probably simple to fix, but I didnt find any solution to it searching around.
Thanks a lot for your time.
I don't see any problem with this code, other than maybe
std::map<std::string, data_base*, order>::const_iterator it
Here order gives the key comparator to use to sort the pairs contained in the map (often implemented as a tree).
Maybe you're doing something wrong in it, making your [] operator don't find the right ke, making your last line logging a new pair with a null ptr.
First, try without that order, using the default key-comparator (std::less), then if it don't work, post your order definition and the map declaration. If it's not enough, just provide a simple complete program that reproduce the problem.
I just wrote a simple similar test, using the default key-comparator :
#include <map>
#include <string>
#include <iostream>
struct Data
{
int k;
Data* clone() { return new Data(); }
};
typedef std::map< std::string, Data* > DataMap;
DataMap data_map;
int main()
{
data_map[ "hello" ] = new Data();
data_map[ "world" ] = new Data();
DataMap other_map;
for( DataMap::const_iterator it = data_map.begin(); it != data_map.end(); ++it)
{
Data*t = it->second->clone();
std::cout << "CLONE: " << std::hex << t << std::endl;
other_map[it->first] = t;
std::cout << "INSERTED: " << std::hex << other_map[it->first] << std::endl;
}
std::cin.ignore();
return 0;
}
On VS2010SP1, this outputs :
CLONE: 00034DD0
INSERTED: 00034DD0
CLONE: 00035098
INSERTED: 00035098
So it should be the problem, or maybe you're doing something wrong before.
Try this out, to help debug the issue. I'd recommend double-checking that the order function is correct. You can remove it to use std::less<T>, which is known to work.
// ...
typedef std::map<std::string, data_base*, order> string_db_map;
for(string_db_map::const_iterator it = other.elements.begin();
it != other.elements.end();
++it)
{
data_base *t = it->second->clone();
std::cout << "CLONE: " << std::hex << t << std::endl;
std::pair<string_db_map::iterator, bool) result = elements.insert(
string_db_map::value_type( it->first, t));
if ( !result.second )
{
std::cout << "element['" << it->first << "'] was already present, and replaced." << std::endl;
}
std::coud << "INSERTED [iterator]: " << std::hex << (*result.first).second << std::endl;
std::cout << "INSERTED [indexed]: " << std::hex << elements[it->first] << std::endl;
}
// ...

C++ STL set of classes - compiler error error C2664

Newbie programmer here trying to work out his homework. I'm trying to use a STL set of classes, but the compiler complains about my code.
car.h
#include <string>
#include <iostream>
#include <time.h>
#include <set>
class Car
{
private:
std::string plateNumber;
std::string description;
std::string dateIn;
std::string timeIn;
public:
Car() {};
~Car() {};
Car(std::string plate, std::string desc)
{
plateNumber = plate;
description = desc;
};
void setPlateNumber(std::string plate) ;
std::string getPlateNumber() const;
void setDesc(std::string desc);
void setTimeDateIn() ;
std::string getTimeIn() const;
std::string getDateIn() const;
std::string getDesc() const;
friend std::ostream & operator<<(std::ostream & os, Car &c);
};
std::ostream & operator<<(std::ostream & os, Car& c)
{
os << "Plate Number: " << c.plateNumber << ", Date In: " << c.dateIn << ", " <<
`"Time in: " << c.timeIn << "Description: " << c.description << std::endl;
return os;
}
bool operator< ( const Car& lhs, const Car& rhs)
{
return ( lhs.getPlateNumber() < rhs.getPlateNumber() );
};
main.cpp
#include "stdafx.h"
#include <iostream>
#include <set>
#include <string>
#include "car.h"
void carEnters(std::set<Car> g);
void carLeaves(std::set<Car> g);
void displayContents(std::set<Car> g);
int main ()
{
char choice [80];
// initialize the sets and iterators
std::set<Car> garage;
do // Loop until user quits
{
std::cout <<
std::endl;
std::cout << "Menu:" << std::endl;
std::cout << "-----" << std::endl;
std::cout << "'1' to enter a new car, or " << std::endl;
std::cout << "'2' to exit the front car, or " << std::endl;
std::cout << "'3' to to list all the cars or." << std::endl;
std::cout << "'0' to close the garage: " << std::endl;
std::cin.getline( choice, 1, '\n');
switch ( choice[0] )
{
case '0' :
std::cout << std::endl << "Thanks for playing...\n";
break;
case '1' :
carEnters(garage);
break;
case '2' :
carLeaves(garage);
case '3' :
displayContents(garage);
break;
default:
std::cout << "I'm sorry, I didn't understand that.\n";
break;
}
} while ( choice[0] != '0' ); // Loop again if the user hasn't quit.
return 0;
}
void carEnters( std::set<Car> g)
{
// Car enters garage
std::cout << "Please enter the plate number:" << std::endl;
std::string plate;
std::cin >> plate;
std::cin.ignore();
std::set<Car>::iterator findPlate;
Car* lookup = new Car;
lookup->setPlateNumber(plate);
findPlate = g.find(*lookup);
if (findPlate != g.end()) // Add car to garage
{
Car *currentCar = new Car ;
// Set car parameters
std::cout << "Please type the entering car's description <Model, Color...
> : " << std::endl;
char desc[80];
std::cin.get(desc, 80 );
std::cin.ignore();
currentCar->setDesc(desc);
currentCar->setTimeDateIn();
currentCar->setPlateNumber(plate);
g.insert(currentCar);
}
else // Plate is already in garage set
{
std::cout << "Sorry, this car is already in the garage!" <<
std::endl;
}
}
void carLeaves( std::set<Car> g)
{
std::string plate;
std::cout << "Which plate is leaving?" << std::endl;
std::cin >> plate;
std::cin.ignore();
// Find car's plate number in the garage set
// for (findPlate=garageSet.begin(); findPlate !=garageSet.end(); findPlate++)
std::set<Car>::iterator findPlate;
Car lookup(plate,"");
findPlate = g.find(lookup);
if (findPlate != g.end())
{
// Display time in and then remove car from set of cars
std::cout << "Car out at " << (*findPlate).getDateIn() << ", " <<
(*findPlate).getTimeIn() << std::endl;
g.erase(findPlate);
}
else
{
std::cout << "Car was not found in set of Cars!" << std::endl;
}
}
// Car class function implementation
void Car::setPlateNumber(std::string p)
{
plateNumber = p;
}
std::string Car::getPlateNumber() const
{
return plateNumber;
}
void Car::setDesc(std::string d)
{
description = d;
}
void Car::setTimeDateIn()
{
char dat[9];
char tim[9];
_strdate_s(dat);
_strtime_s(tim);
dateIn=dat;
timeIn=tim;
}
std::string Car::getTimeIn() const
{
return timeIn;
}
std::string Car::getDateIn() const
{
return dateIn;
}
std::string Car::getDesc() const
{
return description;
}
// Display the car set
void displayContents(std::set <Car> garage)
{
// function displays current contents of the parking garage.
std::set <Car>::iterator carIndex;
std::cout << std::endl << "Here are all the cars parked: " << std::endl;
for (carIndex = garage.begin();
carIndex != garage.end();
++carIndex )
{
std::cout << " " << carIndex->getPlateNumber() << ", Date In: " <<
carIndex->getDateIn() << ", " << "Time In: " << carIndex->getTimeIn() << "Description:
" << carIndex->getDesc() << std::endl;
}
}
The error I get from the compiler is this:
xmemory(208): error C2664: 'Car::Car(const Car &)' : cannot convert parameter 1 from 'Car *' to 'const Car &'
Reason: cannot convert from 'Car *' to 'const Car'
No constructor could take the source type, or constructor overload resolution was ambiguous
I'm not sure where I'm going wrong, would some please point out how my overload is incorrect?
Thanks
The error is likely the g.insert(currentCar) line in the carEnters method, as g is a std::set<Car>, not a std::set<Car*>. Either pass in a reference to the current car (*currentCar) or make the garage contain pointers to cars.
In addition, you may wish to pass in g as a reference, in the form of...
void carEnters(std::set<Car>& g) { }
void carLeaves(std::set<Car>& g) { }
Otherwise the set is being copied and you might not get the results you want.
If you need explanation as to the why for any of these, add a comment. I used to do some TAing back in the day. :)
I believe #James is on the right track, but passing *CurrentCar isn't really the right answer (at least IMO). Instead, you should back up a bit:
Car *currentCar = new Car ;
Perhaps you have prior experience with Java (or something similar) where this is a routine, normal type of code to write. In C++, however, using new directly is (or at least should be) fairly unusual. What you almost certainly want instead is:
Car currentCar;
and then you'll fill in the fields like:
currentCar.whatever = x;
Then, when you put your currentCar into the std::set (or whatever) you won't have to dereference anything, because you'll be starting with a Car object, which is what's expected. As an aside, I'd note that when you look up the car, you're also creating a Car object dynamically -- but you never seem to delete either one, so you're code is leaking memory.
Edit: I should add that there are alternatives that may be preferable. Right now, you're basically treating a Car as "dumb data", with outside code to operate on that data. If you want your code to be "object oriented", it would almost certainly be better to move the code for reading a Car's data into the class itself, so outside code would just invoke that member function.
Another possibility would be to make a Car an immutable object. Instead of creating an unitialized car, and then setting the appropriate values in that object, I'd pass the correct values to Car's constructor, and eliminate the member functions you currently have for changing those values. At least for your purposes, it doesn't appear that you need to actually change a car's plate number -- it should apparently only ever have one plate number, in which case it would be better for your code to reflect (and enforce) that directly.
Your problem is that your set takes elements of type Car but you are inserting elements of type Car*:
void carEnters( std::set<Car> g)
{
...
Car *currentCar = new Car;
...
g.insert(currentCar);
In this case, currentCar is a pointer to a Car and g.insert expects a Car. There are multiple ways of fixing this - you can change your set to use Car* although your overloaded operator< will no longer work (you'll have to create a functor that is passed to the set and takes two Car*s). You can change currentCar to be of type Car. This results in a bunch of copying however. Or you can ditch currentCar entirely and make a constructor that will set all the variables you need set:
Car(const std::string &plate, const std::string &desc)
{
plateNumber = plate;
description = desc;
setTimeDateIn();
};
then you can just do this:
g.insert(Car(desc, plate));
Which is actually preferable to what you are doing now, as someone might forget to call setTimeDateIn. It makes more sense for that to be called when the Car is constructed.