Postincrementation operator in linked list - c++

Question

I had to write a program that handle this main code:(not allowed to change it)
list<int> iv;
iv["john"] = 23;
int ia = iv["john"]++;
int ib = iv["john"];
cout << ia << " " << ib << endl; // prints 23 24
try{
cout << iv["jack"] << endl; // should throw an exception
}catch(list<int>::Uninitialized&)
{
cout << "Uninitialized map element!" << endl;
};
Here is my code:
#ifndef EXAM_H
#define EXAM_H
#include <iostream>
#include <string>
using namespace std;
template <class TYPE>
class list
{
private:
struct node
{
TYPE value;
string index;
bool isInit;
node *next;
};
node *head;
node *current;
public:
class Cref
{
friend class list;
list& s;
string position;
Cref (list& ss, string pos): s(ss), position(pos) {};
public:
operator TYPE() const
{
return s.read(position);
}
Cref& operator = (TYPE val)
{
s.write(position,val);
return *this;
};
Cref& operator = (const Cref& ref)
{
return operator= ((TYPE)ref);
};
};
class Uninitialized{};
list ()
{
cout << "constructor\n";
head = NULL;
current = NULL;
}
~list ()
{
while (head)
{
node *t = head->next;
delete head;
head = t;
};
}
TYPE read (string ind) const
{
cout << "read\n";
node *t = head;
while(t)
{
if(t->index == ind && t->isInit == true) return t->value;
else t = t->next;
}
throw Uninitialized();
}
void write (string ind, TYPE value_)
{
cout << "write\n";
node *t = new node;
t->next = head;
head = t;
head->value = value_;
head->index = ind;
head->isInit = true;
}
TYPE operator[] (string ind) const
{
cout << "read\n";
node *t = head;
while(t)
{
if(t->index == ind && t->isInit == true) return t->value;
else t = t->next;
}
throw Uninitialized();
}
Cref operator[] (string ind)
{
return Cref(*this, ind);
}
};
#endif
Everything works great, but only when I comment out postincrementation operation in main program
int ia = iv["john"]++;
As you can see I have a struct node where I put all variables and I want to increment value by one in node where the key is "john". Is there any way to implement operator++ for this code ?
I am not allowed to use std::map.

Answer 1

The usual approach to your problem is defining the array subscript operators as
const TYPE& operator[](string ind) const;
TYPE& operator[](string ind);
In this way, you do not have to bother a single bit about the operator++: Since iv["John"] returns a reference to int, iv["John"]++ will call the int post-increment operator which is built-in.

Answer 2

Yes, I have already tried this solution, but compiler do not distinguish between reading and writing and still using non-const version. So I had to build proxy class Cref that helps to distinguish.
I have also already find a solution to operator++ problem.
This operation had to be from Cref level. I created
Cref& operator++ (int val)
{
s.increment(position,val);
return *this;
};
And increment function in main class body as follows:
void increment (string ind, int value_)
{
cout << "increment\n";
node *t = head;
while(t)
{
if(t->index == ind && t->isInit == true) t->value = t->value + 1;
t = t->next;
}
}
That fully solved my problem.