How to write a comparison operator in c++? - c++

Question

I'm having an array of structure containing three fields:
struct data{
int s;
int f;
int w;
};
struct data a[n];
In order to sort the array of structure based on field f I'm using my own comparison operator :
bool myf( struct data d1,const struct data d2){
return d1.f < d2.f ;
}
The above operator works fine in inbuilt sort() function :
sort(a,a+n,myf);
but it's not working for upper_bound() function :
upper_bound(a,a+n,someValue,myf);
Can anyone tell me where am I doing wrong ? Is my comparison operator wrong ? If it's wrong, why is it working for sort() function and not upper_bound() ?
I'm getting following on compilation :
/usr/lib/gcc/i686-pc-linux-gnu/4.3.4/include/g++-v4/bits/stl_algo.h: In function ‘_FIter std::upper_bound(_FIter, _FIter, const _Tp&, _Compare) [with _FIter = data*, _Tp = int, _Compare = bool (*)(data, data)]’:
prog.cpp:37: instantiated from here
/usr/lib/gcc/i686-pc-linux-gnu/4.3.4/include/g++-v4/bits/stl_algo.h:2243: error: conversion from ‘const int’ to non-scalar type ‘data’ requested

Answer 1

All you actually need here is to create operator< for your type:
inline bool operator<( const data& lhs, const data& rhs ) {
return lhs.f < rhs.f;
}
and standard algorithms will magically work for you.
In C++ you don't need struct when referring to a type like in C, and you want to pass by const reference to avoid copying.
Edit 0:
The above overloads standard comparison operator < for your type. You would use it implicitly as:
data values[N];
// ... populate
std::sort( values, values + N );
or explicitly with a standard functor:
std::sort( values, values + N, std::less<data>());
Edit 1:
See that compiler tells you _Tp = int in the warning? You need to pass an instance of data as third argument to upper_bound, not int:
data xxx = { 0, 1, 7 };
auto iter = std::upper_bound( values, values + N, xxx );
You can also create overloads for comparing to integers, like:
inline bool operator<( const data& lhs, int rhs ) {
return lhs.f < rhs;
}
inline bool operator<( int lhs, const data& rhs ) {
return lhs < rhs.f;
}
for your original invocation to work.

Answer 2

Primarily, it isn't working because the upper_bound overload that accepts a custom sorting takes four parameters:
// http://en.cppreference.com/w/cpp/algorithm/upper_bound
template< class ForwardIt, class T, class Compare >
ForwardIt upper_bound( ForwardIt first, ForwardIt last, const T& value,
Compare comp );
It was suggested in another answer that you introduce operator< for your type. However, do not do this just for the sake of one specific sorting. Only introduce comparison operators iff they actually make sense for your type.
If you don't follow this rule, future programmers might use your type and wonder about why something works that shouldn't, or vice versa. Your future evil twin may also want to use another sorting for his purpose.
E.g., it makes sense for a complex-datatype class, a SIMD-class (like std::valarray), but it doesn't make any specific sense for example for an Employee class:
Employee foo, bar;
if (bar > foo) {
// is bar taller than foo?
// is bar older than foo?
// is bar working better than foo?
// is bar bigger newbie than foo?
}
Instead, you could do it like this:
namespace employee_ordering {
struct by_name_ascending {
bool operator() (Employee const &lhs, Employee const &rhs) const {
return lhs.name() < rhs.name();
}
};
struct by_name_descending {
bool operator() (Employee const &lhs, Employee const &rhs) const {
return lhs.name() > rhs.name();
}
}
};
....
upper_bound(first, last, ..., employee_ordering::by_name_ascending());