Why does auto not work with some lambdas - c++

Given the function:
void foo(std::function<void(int, std::uint32_t, unsigned int)>& f)
{
f(1, 2, 4);
}
Why does this compile:
std::function<void(int a, std::uint32_t b, unsigned int c)> f =
[] (int a, std::uint32_t b, unsigned int c) -> void
{
std::cout << a << b << c << '\n';
return;
};
And this fails to compile:
auto f =
[] (int a, std::uint32_t b, unsigned int c) -> void
{
std::cout << a << b << c << '\n';
return;
};
With the error:
5: error: no matching function for call to 'foo'
foo(f);
^~~
6: note: candidate function not viable: no known conversion from '(lambda at...:9)' to 'std::function<void (int, std::uint32_t, unsigned int)> &' for 1st argument
void foo(std::function<void(int, std::uint32_t, unsigned int)>& f)
^

A lambda is not a std::function. Thus, calling the foo function requires construction of a temporary std::function object from the lambda, and passing this temporary as an argument. However, the foo function expects a modifiable lvalue of type std::function. Obviously, a prvalue temporary can't be bound by a non-const lvalue reference. Take by value instead:
void foo(std::function<void(int, std::uint32_t, unsigned int)> f)
{
f(1, 2, 4);
}

Related

Why is std::forward turning my lvalue into an rvalue?

template<class T>
struct IntHolder {
T i;
};
template<class T>
void addOne(T& t) {
t.i += 1;
}
template<class... Args>
void addAll(Args... args) {
// Magic to run addOne on each arg
int dummy[] = { 0, ((void)addOne(std::forward<Args>(args)), 0)... };
}
int main() {
IntHolder<int> x{2};
IntHolder<double> t{3};
addAll(x, t);
return 0;
}
This toy example won't compile because
prog.cc: In instantiation of 'void addAll(Args ...) [with Args = {IntHolder<int>, IntHolder<double>}]':
prog.cc:60:16: required from here
prog.cc:54:39: error: invalid initialization of non-const reference of type 'IntHolder<int>&' from an rvalue of type 'IntHolder<int>'
int dummy[] = { 0, ((void)addOne(std::forward<Args>(args)), 0)... };
^
prog.cc:48:6: note: initializing argument 1 of 'void addOne(T&) [with T = IntHolder<int>]'
void addOne(T& t) {
What I thought would happen here is that addAll gets two lvalues passed in, and then addOne would be called on each of those as an lvalue. However, it seems somewhere along the way, the compiler thinks that the argument is getting converted to an rvalue. Why might this be?
You're declaring parameter as non-reference, i.e. pass-by-value, then when being passed x and t, the type would be deduced as IntHolder<int> and IntHolder<double>. Then std::forward<Args> would convert them into rvalues.
For forwarding reference it should be
template<class... Args>
void addAll(Args&&... args) {
// ^^
// Args would be deduced as IntHolder<int>&, IntHolder<double>&
// then std::forward<Args>(args) yields lvalues
int dummy[] = { 0, ((void)addOne(std::forward<Args>(args)), 0)... };
}

std::function as a (non) const input parameter sent by &

I wonder why std::function<...(...)> & needs to be specified as const when passed as an input parameter to a function. AFAIK there is no way to change it, right? Here is an example that compiles and runs fine. If I remove the const qualifier I get an error:
#include <iostream>
#include <functional>
//int foo(std::function<int(int)> &f)
int foo(const std::function<int(int)> &f)
{
return f(6);
}
int main(int argc, char **argv)
{
auto f1 = [=](int i){ if (i<5) {return 8*2;} else {return 2;} };
auto f2 = [=](int i){ if (i>3) {return i*i;} else {return 2;} };
std::cout << foo(f1) << "\n";
}
When I use the declaration without the const I get the following error:
main.cpp: In function ‘int main(int, char**)’:
main.cpp:13:21: error: cannot bind non-const lvalue reference of type ‘std::function<int(int)>&’ to an rvalue of type ‘std::function<int(int)>’
std::cout << foo(f1) << "\n";
^
In file included from /usr/include/c++/7/functional:58:0,
from main.cpp:2:
/usr/include/c++/7/bits/std_function.h:685:7: note: after user-defined conversion: std::function<_Res(_ArgTypes ...)>::function(_Functor) [with _Functor = main(int, char**)::<lambda(int)>; <template-parameter-2-2> = void; <template-parameter-2-3> = void; _Res = int; _ArgTypes = {int}]
function<_Res(_ArgTypes...)>::
^~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
main.cpp:4:5: note: initializing argument 1 of ‘int foo(std::function<int(int)>&)’
int foo(std::function<int(int)> &f)
^~~
A lambda is not a std::function, but a std::function can be created from a lambda. When you pass either f1 or f2 to foo(), the compiler must construct a temporary std::function object to give to the f parameter. However, an lvalue reference to a non-const object cannot be bound to a temporary object, exactly as the error message says.
To allow the passing of a temporary object, the f parameter must be changed to take the std::function by either:
value
lvalue reference to a const object
rvalue reference
Otherwise, you have to construct the std::function yourself in a variable, then pass that instead:
#include <iostream>
#include <functional>
//int foo(const std::function<int(int)> &f)
int foo(std::function<int(int)> &f)
{
return f(6);
}
int main(int argc, char **argv)
{
auto f1 = [=](int i){ if (i<5) {return 8*2;} else {return 2;} };
auto f2 = [=](int i){ if (i>3) {return i*i;} else {return 2;} };
std::function<int(int)> f = f1;
std::cout << foo(f) << "\n";
}

Force template deduction from a function to produce const references where applicable

running through the following function using gdb in vscode tells me that the deduced argTypes for a function of the form T (*)(const int &, const int *, int &, int) are int const int * int & and int respectively. Is there any way to force the compiler to deduce const Type & when presented with a const Type & argument? Or is there some other means by which I can extract that type information in a useful way?
#include<typeinfo>
template<typename T, typename...argTypes>
void testfunc(T (*f)(argTypes...))
{
const char *a[] = { typeid(argTypes).name()... };
for(auto &av :a)
{
std::cout << av << std::endl;
}
}
edit:
A little more context: this function obviously does little to nothing, but the problem function that spawned it also takes in all the arguments to be run with f in a way that they are not deduced, but converted.
This presents a problem for non-copyable objects to be used as const references.
An example of using testfunc is as follows:
#include "testfunc.h"
std::vector<bool> funcToTest(const int &a, const int *b, int &c, int d)
{
std::vector<bool> out;
out.push_back(&a == b);
out.push_back(&c == b);
out.push_back(&d == b);
return out;
}
int main()
{
// put a breakpoint here, and step in, you would see that 'a'
// describes the situation as described above.
testfunc(funcToTest);
}
The issue here is with typeid, not template deduction. If you use
template<typename... Ts>
struct types;
template<typename T, typename...argTypes>
void testfunc(T (*f)(argTypes...))
{
types<argTypes...>{};
}
You get an nice error message like
main.cpp: In instantiation of 'void testfunc(T (*)(argTypes ...)) [with T = std::vector<bool>; argTypes = {const int&, const int*, int&, int}]':
main.cpp:30:24: required from here
main.cpp:12:5: error: invalid use of incomplete type 'struct types<const int&, const int*, int&, int>'
12 | types<argTypes...>{};
| ^~~~~
main.cpp:7:8: note: declaration of 'struct types<const int&, const int*, int&, int>'
7 | struct types;
| ^~~~~
which shows you that the function parameter types are correctly deduced.
With typeid if the type is a reference, then it returns the referred to type. It also drops all cv-qualifactions on the types. That means
int main()
{
std::cout << typeid(int).name() << "\n";
std::cout << typeid(int&).name() << "\n";
std::cout << typeid(const int).name() << "\n";
std::cout << typeid(const int&).name() << "\n";
std::cout << typeid(volatile int).name() << "\n";
std::cout << typeid(volatile int&).name() << "\n";
std::cout << typeid(const volatile int).name() << "\n";
std::cout << typeid(const volatile int&).name() << "\n";
}
prints
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i

std::function and std::bind return value

I'm trying to understand how std::bind and std::function work.
I cannot get the following code to compile:
#include <iostream>
#include <string>
#include <functional>
void function(int a, float b, std::string const &s)
{
std::cout << "printing function" << std::endl;
std::cout << a << std::endl;
std::cout << b << std::endl;
std::cout << s << std::endl;
}
int main(int argc, char *argv[])
{
std::bind(&function, 10, 11.1, "hello")();
std::function<void(int, float, std::string const&)> fun = std::bind(&function, 10, std::placeholders::_1, std::placeholders::_2);
fun(0.2, "world");
return 0;
}
the compiler complains that:
main.cpp: In function 'int main(int, char**)':
main.cpp:16:69: error: conversion from 'std::_Bind_helper<false, void (*)(int, float, const std::__cxx11::basic_string<char>&), int, const std::_Placeholder<1>&, const std::_Placeholder<2>&>::type {aka std::_Bind<void (*(int, std::_Placeholder<1>, std::_Placeholder<2>))(int, float, const std::__cxx11::basic_string<char>&)>}' to non-scalar type 'std::function<void(int, float, const std::__cxx11::basic_string<char>&)>' requested
std::function<void(int, float, std::string const&)> fun = std::bind(&function, 10, std::placeholders::_1, std::placeholders::_2);
~~~~~~~~~^~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
please, can someone explain? and how do I fix this error?
You are almost there, just change the type of fun to
std::function<void(float, std::string const&)> fun = std::bind(...);
// ^^ no more int here
fun(0.2, "world");
// ^^^^^^^^^^^^ those types must match the above signature
Note that you change the function signature when fixing the first function argument of type int to the value 10. Hence, it can't be in the type of the std::function instantiation.
Further note that Scott Meyers suggests in Item 34 of Effective Modern C++ to replace the std::bind usage with a lambda, e.g.
auto fun = [](float b, std::string const& s){ function(10, b, s); };
// Identical invocation:
fun(0.2, "world");

Explicitly specify defaulted template parameter located after template parameter pack

Why can't I explicitly specify d in following case?
#include <iostream>
template< typename a, typename b = int, typename ...c, typename d = int >
int
f(a, b, c..., d)
{
return sizeof...(c);
}
int
main()
{
std::cout << f< int, int, int, int/*, char*/ >(1, 2, 3, 4, 'd') << std::endl;
return 0;
}
If I uncomment last template argument, then I expect output 2, but instead I get a hard error:
main.cpp:14:18: error: no matching function for call to 'f'
std::cout << f< int, int, int, int, char >(1, 2, 3, 4, 'd') << std::endl;
^~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
main.cpp:6:1: note: candidate function not viable: requires 6 arguments, but 5 were provided
f(a, b, c..., d)
^
1 error generated.
What is the rule to deny it in this case?
Because packs are greedy. So char is actually part of c and you're expected to supply the argument associated with d, which is of type int due to the default.