C++: Parent object change their id attribute without method call - c++

Question

As I specified in the title, this is a problem that puzzled me enormously, and still I can not find a fix for it.
I created a Point class which has three private attributes (_id, _x and _y) with related public get and set methods.
For example, I created three points (G, H, R), where the point G is a "parent". Point H is the prototype of the point G (a clone) and point R will be the outcome of the meeting points (G+H) (addition of the points).
Points sample:
Point G ("pG", 3.5f, 6.5f);
Point H (G.prototype ()); H.setId ("pH");
Point R;
R = G + H;
The program works correctly, but unfortunately after the operation {R=G+H}, _id attribute of point G becomes the clone attribute of point R, I do not understand why this is happening because the evaluation is done from right to left (H+, +G, =R).
The question is why G point attribute changes itself?
Code where the problem occurs:
#include <iostream>
#include <string>
using namespace std;
class Point
{
private:
string _id;
double _x;
double _y;
public:
Point(string id="undefined", double x = 0.00f, double y = 0.00f)
:_id(id), _x(x), _y(y){}
~Point(){}
public:
// Getters methods
string getId() const { return _id;}
double getX() const { return _x; }
double getY() const { return _y; }
void setId(string id) { _id = id; }
// Setters methods
void setX(double n = 0.00f) { _x = n; }
void setY(double n = 0.00f) { _y = n; }
Point prototype() { return Point(_id, _x, _y); }
Point operator+ (const Point& p)
{
cout << "Operator + called, returning a new object" << endl;
return Point
(
_id.append("+").append(p._id),
_x+p._x,
_y+p._y
);
}
Point operator= (const Point& p)
{
cout << "Operator = called, returning a new object Point(p._id, p._x, p._y)" << endl;
_id=p._id;
_x=p._x;
_y=p._y;
return *this;
}
};
int main()
{
Point G("G",10.0f, 10.0f);
Point H(G.prototype()); H.setId("H");
Point R;
R = G + H;
cout << "object Point {id: " << G.getId() << ", x: " << G.getX() << ", y: " << G.getY() << "}" << endl;
cout << "object Point {id: " << H.getId() << ", x: " << H.getX() << ", y: " << H.getY() << "}" << endl;
cout << "object Point {id: " << R.getId() << ", x: " << R.getX() << ", y: " << R.getY() << "}" << endl;
return 0;
}
Thanks in advance!

Answer 1

Point operator+ (const Point& p)
{
cout << "Operator + called, returning a new object" << endl;
return Point
(
_id.append("+").append(p._id), // HERE
_x+p._x,
_y+p._y
);
}
In this line, you modify _id property of this object. As a rule of thumb, binary + operator should be a const member or - IMO cleaner - a static method taking two const reference arguments.
BTW, you can add strings in C++ by just applying + operator to them (_id + "+" + p._id).

Answer 2

If you implement your binary arithmetic operators as members, you should consider making the operator a const member. This would catch the obvious modification in your implementation (the implementation is made out of line to avoid including unrelated code):
Point Point::operator+ (const Point& p) const
{
cout << "Operator + called, returning a new object" << endl;
return Point
(
_id.append("+").append(p._id),
_x+p._x,
_y+p._y
);
}
The operation _id.append("+") actually operates on this->_id, i.e., the _id member of the left hand operand. Since you member operator isn't const, the compiler lets you do the modification. This is probably not what you intended to do. You probably rather wanted to write:
Point Point::operator+ (const Point& p) const
{
cout << "Operator + called, returning a new object\n";
return Point
(
_id + "+" + p._id,
_x+p._x,
_y+p._y
);
}
... which creates a suitable temporary string with the desired value (I also replaced the excessive use of std::endl).

Answer 3

This line in the operator+ overload:
_id.append("+").append(p._id),
You have to be very careful here, you are currently in an object (in your example this would be the G object). append actually alters the local string, so your code is appending + then p._id then deep copying that to the returned value.
A quick fix is to change this to a temporary that holds what you need:
_id + "+" + p._id
To avoid problems like this in the future, you should declare operator overloads as a friend method so it's extremely clear what you're operating on.
friend Point operator+ (const Point& lhs, const Point& rhs)
{
cout << "Operator + called, returning a new object" << endl;
return Point
(
lhs._id.append("+").append(rhs._id), //COMPILER ERROR! We're modifying the const "lhs"!
lhs._x+rhs._x,
lhs._y+rhs._y
);
}
So let's change this to:
friend Point operator+ (const Point& lhs, const Point& rhs)
{
cout << "Operator + called, returning a new object" << endl;
return Point
(
lhs._id + "+" + rhs._id, // no longer modifying lhs -- all is well!
lhs._x+rhs._x,
lhs._y+rhs._y
);
}