I'm new to multi-threading and have limited knowledge in programming. I want to use async function in c++ to call a virtual function. Snippets of the code are given below. Any help would be much appreciated.
class Binary_Genome: public Individual
{
public:
std::string evaluate_fitness();
}
class Individual
{
public:
virtual std::string evaluate_fitness()=0;
}
int main()
{
std::string w_list;
Individual* current_ind;
//Skipped some code here
std::future<std::string> future_strs;
future_strs = std::async(current_ind->evaluate_fitness); //Complier does not understand this line.
w_list = future_strs.get();
return 0;
}
Compilation error:
error: invalid use of non-static member function
I understand std::async(current_ind->evaluate_fitness) is incorrect syntax. However, I don't know what the correct syntax is. The code works perfectly without async (w_list = current_ind->evaluate_fitness()). Thanks for the help.
Even if it were to compile, you would get memory error since Individual* current_ind; doesn't initialize the pointer. currently it points to garbage memory address.
yo ucan use pointers to objects in std::async liek that:
Object obj;
Object* pointer = &obj;
auto fut = std::async([pointer]{ return pointer->returnSomthing(); });
make sure that obj is alive as long as the async function runs. std::shared_ptr is extremly suitable for that.
Related
This is my first experience with downcasting in C++ and I just can't understand the problem.
AInstruction and CInstruction inherit from AssemblerInstruction.
Parser takes the info in its ctor and creates one of those derived instruction types for its mInstruction member (accessed by getInstruction). In the program, a method of the base AssemblerInstruction class is used, for happy polymorphism.
But when I want to test that the Parser has created the correct instruction, I need to query the derived instruction members, which means I need to downcast parser.getInstruction() to an AInstruction or CInstruction.
As far as I can tell this needs to be done using a bunch of pointers and references. This is how I can get the code to compile:
TEST(ParserA, parsesBuiltInConstants)
{
AssemblerInstruction inst = Parser("#R3", 0).getInstruction();
EXPECT_EQ(inst.getInstructionType(), AssemblerInstruction::InstructionType::A);
AssemblerInstruction* i = &(inst);
AInstruction* a = dynamic_cast<AInstruction*>(i);
EXPECT_EQ(a->getLine(), "R3");
}
Running this gives this error:
unknown file: error: SEH exception with code 0xc0000005 thrown in the test body.
And stepping through the code, when the debugger is on the final line of the function, a is pointing to
0x00000000 <NULL>.
I imagine this is an instance where I don't have a full enough understanding of C++, meaning that I could be making a n00b mistake. Or maybe it's some bigger crazy problem. Help?
Update
I've been able to make this work by making mInstruction into a (dumb) pointer:
// in parser, when parsing
mInstructionPtr = new AInstruction(assemblyCode.substr(1), lineNumber);
// elsewhere in AssemblerInstruction.cpp
AssemblerInstruction* AssemblyParser::getInstructionPtr() { return mInstructionPtr; }
TEST(ParserA, parsesBuiltInConstants)
{
auto ptr = Parser("#R3", 0).getInstructionPtr();
AInstruction* a = dynamic_cast<AInstruction*>(ptr);
EXPECT_EQ(a->getLine(), "R3");
}
However I have trouble implementing it with a unique_ptr:
(I'm aware that mInstruction (non-pointer) is redundant, as are two types of pointers. I'll get rid of it later when I clean all this up)
class AssemblyParser
{
public:
AssemblyParser(std::string assemblyCode, unsigned int lineNumber);
AssemblerInstruction getInstruction();
std::unique_ptr<AssemblerInstruction> getUniqueInstructionPtr();
AssemblerInstruction* getInstructionPtr();
private:
AssemblerInstruction mInstruction;
std::unique_ptr<AssemblerInstruction> mUniqueInstructionPtr;
AssemblerInstruction* mInstructionPtr;
};
// in AssemblyParser.cpp
// in parser as in example above. this works fine.
mUniqueInstructionPtr = make_unique<AInstruction>(assemblyCode.substr(1), lineNumber);
// this doesn't compile!!!
unique_ptr<AssemblerInstruction> AssemblyParser::getUniqueInstructionPtr()
{
return mUniqueInstructionPtr;
}
In getUniqueInstructionPtr, there is a squiggle under mUniqueInstructionPtr with this error:
'std::unique_ptr<AssemblerInstruction,std::default_delete>::unique_ptr(const std::unique_ptr<AssemblerInstruction,std::default_delete> &)': attempting to reference a deleted function
What!? I haven't declared any functions as deleted or defaulted!
You can not downcast an object to something which doesn't match it's dynamic type. In your code,
AssemblerInstruction inst = Parser("#R3", 0).getInstruction();
inst has a fixed type, which is AssemblerInstruction. Downcasting it to AInstruction leads to undefined behavior - manifested as crash - because that is not what it is.
If you want your getInstruction to return a dynamically-typed object, it has to return a [smart] pointer to base class, while constructing an object of derived class. Something like that (pseudo code):
std::unique_ptr<AssemblerInstruction> getInstruction(...) {
return std::make_unique<AInstruction>(...);
}
Also, if you see yourself in need of downcasting object based on a value of a class, you are doing something wrong, as you are trying to home-brew polymorphism. Most of the times it does indicate a design flaw, and should instead be done using built-in C++ polymorphic support - namely, virtual functions.
Ok first off I'm very new to C++ so apologies if my understanding is poor. I'll try explain myself as best I can. What I have is I am using a library function that returns a std::shared_ptr<SomeObject>, I then have a different library function that takes a raw pointer argument (more specifically node-addon-api Napi::External<T>::New(Napi::Env env, T *data) static function). I want to create a Napi::External object using my std::shared_ptr. What I am currently doing is this:
{
// ...
std::shared_ptr<SomeObject> pSomeObject = something.CreateSomeObject();
auto ext = Napi::External<SomeObject>::New(info.Env(), pSomeObject.get());
auto instance = MyNapiObjectWrapper::Create({ ext });
return instance;
}
But I am worried this will run into memory issues.
My pSomeObject only exists in the current scope, so I imagine what should happen is after the return, it's reference count will drop to 0 and the SomeObject instance it points to will be destroyed and as such I will have issues with the instance I return which uses this object. However I have been able to run this code and call functions on SomeObject from my instance, so I'm thinking maybe my understanding is wrong.
My question is what should I do when given a shared pointer but I need to work off a raw pointer because of other third party library requirements? One option that was proposed to me was make a deep copy of the object and create a pointer to that
If my understanding on any of this is wrong please correct me, as I said I'm quite new to C++.
============================
Edit:
So I was missing from my original post info about ownership and what exactly this block is. The block is an instance method for an implementation I have for a Napi::ObjectWrap instance. This instance method needs to return an Napi::Object which will be available to the caller in node.js. I am using Napi::External as I need to pass a sub type of Napi::Value to the constructor New function when creating the Napi:Object I return, and I need the wrapped SomeObject object in the external which I extract in my MyNapiObjectWrapper constructor like so:
class MyNapiObjectWrapper
{
private:
SomeObject* someObject;
static Napi::FunctionReference constructor; // ignore for now
public:
static void Init(Napi::Env env) {...}
MyNapiObjectWrapper(const CallbackInfo& info)
{
Napi::Env env = info.Env();
Napi::HandleScope scope(env);
// My original code to match the above example
this->someObject = info[0].As<const Napi::External<SomeObject>>().Data();
}
DoSomething()
{
this->someObject->DoSomething();
}
}
I have since come to realise I can pass the address of the shared pointer when creating my external and use it as follows
// modified first sample
{{
// ...
std::shared_ptr<SomeObject> pSomeObject = something.CreateSomeObject();
auto ext = Napi::External<SomeObject>::New(info.Env(), &pSomeObject);
auto instance = MyNapiObjectWrapper::Create({ ext });
return instance;
}
// modified second sample
class MyNapiObjectWrapper
{
private:
std::shared_ptr<SomeObject> someObject;
static Napi::FunctionReference constructor; // ignore for now
public:
static void Init(Napi::Env env) {...}
MyNapiObjectWrapper(const CallbackInfo& info)
{
Napi::Env env = info.Env();
Napi::HandleScope scope(env);
// My original code to match the above example
this->someObject =
*info[0].As<const Napi::External<std::shared_ptr<SomeObject>>>().Data();
}
DoSomething()
{
this->someObject->DoSomething();
}
}
So now I am passing a pointer to a shared_ptr to create my Napi::External, my question now though is this OK? Like I said at the start I'm new to c++ but this seems like a bit of a smell. However I tested it with some debugging and could see the reference count go up, so I'm thinking I'm in the clear???
Here the important part of the documentation:
The Napi::External template class implements the ability to create a Napi::Value object with arbitrary C++ data. It is the user's responsibility to manage the memory for the arbitrary C++ data.
So you need to ensure that the object passed by data to Napi::External Napi::External::New exits until the Napi::External<T> object is destructed.
So the code that you have shown is not correct.
What you could do is to pass a Finalize callback to the New function:
static Napi::External Napi::External::New(napi_env env,
T* data,
Finalizer finalizeCallback);
And use a lambda function as Finalize, that lambda could hold a copy through the capture to the shared pointer allowing to keep the shared pointer alive until finalize is called.
std::shared_ptr<SomeObject> pSomeObject = something.CreateSomeObject();
auto ext = Napi::External<SomeObject>::New(
info.Env(),
pSomeObject.get(),
[pSomeObject](Env /*env*/, SomeObject* data) {});
I have an assignment where i was given c++ code that has multiple test functions, and i have to write the stri class with all the functions necesary for these tests to pass. I am having difficulty with one particular test about chain linking.
void Lab4Tests::testChainedSet() {
stri greet = "Hello";
assert(0==strcmp("Hello", greet.get()), "testChainedSet", "internal representation error");
greet.set("Hi").set("Buna");
assert(0==strcmp("Buna", greet.get()), "testChainedSet", "set failed");
}
My function inside the class that I wrote to solve this test is the following
char* set(const char* s){
len=strlen(s);
repres=new char(len+1);
strcpy(repres,s);
return repres;
}
I get an error when compiling the code
error: request for member 'set' in 'greet.stri::set(((const char*)"Hi"))', which is of non-class type 'char*'|
I dont understand chain linking that well, I would appreciate if somebody could point out what I'm doing wrong. Thanks in advance!
If you want to be able to chain calls you need to return a reference to the this object.
For instance
stri& set(const char* s)
{
repres = std::strdup(s);
return *this;
}
I've taken the liberty of simplifying your string duplication. I haven't fixed the memory leak that you will get if you call set when repres already contains dynamically allocated memory.
The below given code is taken from LevelDB. I am giving two blocks of code for better understanding. I am unable to understand what is happening.
ThreadState is a structure and I have written here to make it easy for the reader.
struct ThreadState {
int tid; // 0..n-1 when running in n threads
Random rand; // Has different seeds for different threads
Stats stats;
SharedState* shared;
ThreadState(int index)
: tid(index),
rand(1000 + index) {
}
};
Is the marked code below an object instantiation of class Benchmark? What is happening in the marked code below?
void Run() {
PrintHeader();
Open();
const char* benchmarks = FLAGS_benchmarks;
while (benchmarks != NULL) {
{
//code ommitted
}
// Reset parameters that may be overriddden bwlow
***void (Benchmark::*method)(ThreadState*) = NULL;*** // What does this code line mean? // Benchmark is a class.
bool fresh_db = false;
int num_threads = FLAGS_threads;
if (name == Slice("fillseq")) {
fresh_db = true;
method = &Benchmark::WriteSeq;
}
If required, I can give detailed implementation of Benchmark as well.
Thanks a lot for the help!
void (Benchmark::*method)(ThreadState*) = NULL;
// What does this code line mean?
// Benchmark is a class.
The above is a pointer to a member function. Since member functions are not like regular functions (they can only be called on a valid object), you cannot take their address it the same way you would for a free function.
Therefore the above syntax is introduced. It is similar to a regular function pointer except the class specifier Benchmark::. This is essentially the type of the implicit this pointer.
In your case, method is a pointer to a member function that takes ThreadState* as a parameter, and has a void return type. The reason for using it is most probably to simplify the call. First, and based on various parameters, a member function is chosen to be called, and its "address" stored in method. After all the checks are done, there is only a single call to the chosen function via the pointer to member.
Incidentally, &Benchmark::WriteSeq is how the code obtains the "address" of the member function WriteSeq. You must use the address-of operator on the qualified function name.
Actually I am new to writing handlers but somehow i managed to write this piece of code:
#include<iostream>
using namespace std;
class test
{
public:
typedef void (test::*MsgHandler)(int handle);
test()
{
cout<<"costructor called"<<endl;
}
void Initialize()
{
add_msg_Handler(4,&test::System);
}
void System(int handle)
{
cout<<endl<<"Inside System()"<<endl;
cout<<"handle:"<<handle<<endl;
}
protected:
MsgHandler message[20];
void add_msg_Handler(int idx,MsgHandler handler)
{
cout<<endl<<"Inside add_msg_Handler()"<<endl;
cout<<"handler:"<<handler<<endl;
message[idx]=handler;
cout<<"message:"<<message[idx]<<endl;
}
};
int main()
{
test obj;
obj.Initialize();
return 0;
}
This code is working fine, I get the output as:
costructor called
Inside add_msg_Handler()
handler:1
message:1
But there are several things beyond my scope. If I am right System() should have been called in this line:
add_msg_Handler(4,&test::System);
but this is not happening. I need help on rectifying this.
Second thing is, I am not able to understand why I am getting such output:
handler:1
I mean how does handler got initialized to 1.Can somebody help me in solving this??
&test::System is not a function call, it's a pointer to the member function test::System.
(A call would look like System(0) and wouldn't compile if you used it as the parameter in question.)
If you look at the definition of add_msg_handler:
cout<<endl<<"Inside add_msg_Handler()"<<endl;
cout<<"handler:"<<handler<<endl;
message[idx]=handler;
cout<<"message:"<<message[idx]<<endl;
there's not a single place that calls the function handler.
(A call would look like (this->*handler)(0) or (this->*message[idx])(0).)
So the function isn't called because there's nothing in your code that calls it.
The output is 1 because
handler is a pointer to a member function
there's no overload of << for pointers to member functions
there is an implicit conversion from pointer to member function to bool
there's an overload of << for bool
a non-null pointer is implicitly converted to true
true outputs as 1 by default.