Am I Deleting my struct Properly? - c++

This is a homework assignment. The Field container was the assignment from a week ago, and now I'm supposed to use the Field container to act as a dynamic array for a struct NumPair which holds two char * like so:
struct NumPair
{
char *pFirst, *pSecond;
int count;
NumPair( char *pfirst = "", char *psecond = "", int count = 0)
: pFirst(strdup(pfirst)), pSecond(strdup(psecond)), count(count)
{ }
NumPair( const NumPair& np )
: count(np.count), pFirst(strdup(np.pFirst)), pSecond(strdup(np.pSecond))
{ }
NumPair& operator=( const NumPair& np )
{
if(this != &np)
{
pFirst = strdup(np.pFirst);
pSecond = strdup(np.pSecond);
count = np.count;
}
return *this;
}
and the Field container
Field<NumPair> dict_;
The homework requires the use of char *, and not string, so that we can get better with all this low-level stuff. I've already had some question about char to wchar_t conversions, etc.
Now I have a question as to whether or not I'm destructing the NumPair properly. The scenario is as follows:
1) Field destructor gets called
template <class T>
Field<T>::~Field()
{
delete[] v_;
}
2) Delete calls the destructor of every element NumPair in v_;
~NumPair()
{
free(pFirst);
free(pSecond);
}
Is this okay? I haven't really read too many articles about mixing and matching elements created on the heap and free-store as we wish. I figure as long as I don't use delete on an improper malloc'ed element, I should be fine.
However, I don't know the entire intricacies of the delete command, so I'm wondering whether or not this is valid design, and what I could do to make it better.
Also, of course this isn't. I'm getting an error of the type:
This may be due to a corruption of the heap and points to dbgheap
extern "C" _CRTIMP int __cdecl _CrtIsValidHeapPointer(
const void * pUserData
)
{
if (!pUserData)
return FALSE;
if (!_CrtIsValidPointer(pHdr(pUserData), sizeof(_CrtMemBlockHeader), FALSE))
return FALSE;
return HeapValidate( _crtheap, 0, pHdr(pUserData) ); // Here
}
Again, how could I improve this without the use of string?
FIELD CTOR/Copy Ctor/Assignment
template <class T>
Field<T>::Field()
: v_(0), vused_(0), vsize_(0)
{ }
template <class T>
Field<T>::Field(size_t n, const T &val)
: v_(0), vused_(n), vsize_(0)
{
if(n > 0)
{
vsize_ = 1;
while(vsize_ < n)
vsize_ <<= 1;
v_ = new T[vsize_];
std::fill(v_, (v_ + vused_), val);
}
}
template <class T>
Field<T>::Field(const Field<T> &other)
: v_(new T[other.vsize_]), vsize_(other.vsize_), vused_(other.vused_)
{
std::copy(other.v_, (other.v_ + other.vused_), v_);
}
template <class T>
Field<T>& Field<T>::operator =(const Field<T> &other)
{
this->v_ = other.v_;
this->vused_ = other.vused_;
this->vsize_ = other.vsize_;
return *this;
}
FIELD MEMBERS
T *v_;
size_t vsize_;
size_t vused_;

Your copy constructor (of Field<>) seems OK, but the operator= is problematic.
Not only does it leak memory (what happens to the original v_?), but after that, two instances of Field<> hold a pointer to the same block of memory, and the one that is destructed first will invalidate the others v_ - and you can't even tell whether that has happened.
It's not always easy to decide how to deal with operator= - some think that implicit move semantics are okay, but the rest of us see how that played out with the majority of people, with std::auto_ptr. Probably the easiest solution is to disable copying altogether, and use explicit functions for moving ownership.

Your string handling in NumPair looks ok (strdup + free) and your Field container delete[] looks okay but it's hard to say because you don't show what v_ is.
eq mentions in a comment that you should also beware of how you are copying NumPairs. By default, C++ will give you an implicit member-wise copy constructor. This is where a RAII type like std::string makes your life easier: Your std::string containing struct can be copied without any special handling on your part and memory referenced in the string will be taken care of by the string's copy. If you duplicate your NumPair (by assigning it or returning it from a function for example) then the destruction of the temporary will free your strings out from under you.

Your copy constructor for Field just copies the pointers in v_. If you have two copies of a Field, all of the NumPairs in v_ will be deleted when the first Field goes out of scope, and then deleted again when the second one does.

Related

how to find and track objects and functions that using a dynamically allocated memory?

if we have a code like this :
void g(int *n){
int m=n[1];
n= null ;
}
void main(){
int ∗ p = (int∗)malloc(10 ∗ sizeof (int));
int * q= p;
g(p);
}
so we know if we overload malloc, calloc , realloc ,new ,free and delete functions we can track first pointer that create or delete with this functions(p pointer in above example ) but how can i find and track other pointers and functions that using this allocated memory ? ( q pointer and g function in above example ) .should i overload Assignment statement and function call ? if yes how ? in other words i want to know live objects and last used time and location of an allocated memory too .
i want to implement an custom memory leak detection tools so i need to find all objects and pointer that using an allocated memory before report it that's leak or not .
What you're talking about is called reference counting. Searching stackoverflow for this topic gives you these results:
What is a smart pointer and when should I use one?
How does a reference-counting smart pointer's reference counting work?
what exactly reference counting in c++ means?,
The standard template library already has a std::shared_ptr which does that.
We need to keep track of the lifecycle of the resource, this is possible by controlling the creation, the copying and the deletion. If you do it without using a class, you'll end up with some functions, a state variable and a global variable. This is not very effective in keeping the concept of the shared resource in the focus of the user's mind. One tends to forget that one is using a shared resource because one sees a naked pointer and tends to use it like one, which would disregard the provided shared-pointer functionality.
If you were to encapsulate the functionality in a class, you should want to implement the concept for all types i.e. you should want to use templates. one way would be this:
#include <vector>
#include <stdexcept>
#include <cstdlib>
#ifndef SHARED_PTR_H
#define SHARED_PTR_H
template<class Tres_t>
class shared_pointer
{
// members
Tres_t* data_;
static std::vector<std::size_t> ref_counts_;
std::size_t ref_index_ = {};
public:
// lifecycle
shared_pointer() = delete;
shared_pointer(const std::size_t& size)
: data_{nullptr}
{
data_ = static_cast<Tres_t*>(std::malloc(size * sizeof(Tres_t)));
ref_counts_.push_back(1);
ref_index_ = ref_counts_.size() - 1;
}
shared_pointer(const shared_pointer& rhs)
: data_{rhs.data_}, ref_index_{rhs.ref_index_}
{
if (ref_index_ >= ref_counts_.size())
{
throw std::runtime_error("shared_pointer_ctor_index_error");
}
++ref_counts_[ref_index_];
}
shared_pointer(shared_pointer&& rhs)
: data_{rhs.data_}, ref_index_{rhs.ref_index_} {}
shared_pointer& operator=(const shared_pointer& rhs)
{
data_ = rhs.data_;
ref_index_ = rhs.ref_index_;
if (ref_index_ >= ref_counts_.size())
{
throw std::runtime_error("shared_pointer_ctor_index_error");
}
++ref_counts_[ref_index_];
}
shared_pointer& operator=(shared_pointer&& rhs)
{
data_ = rhs.data_;
ref_index_ = rhs.ref_index_;
}
~shared_pointer()
{
if (ref_counts_[ref_index_] == 0)
{
std::logic_error("shared_point_dtor_reference_counting_error");
}
--ref_counts_[ref_index_];
if (ref_counts_[ref_index_] == 0)
{
std::free(data_);
}
}
// main functionality
Tres_t* data()
{
return data_;
}
const Tres_t* data() const
{
return data_;
}
};
template<class Tres_t>
std::vector<std::size_t> shared_pointer<Tres_t>::ref_counts_ = {};
#endif
I've tested this code only rudimentarily so I'll leave it to you to test and improve it.

C++ Constant anonymous instance with aggregate initialization

Basically Im wanting to fetch a pointer of a constant and anonymous object, such as an instance of a class, array or struct that is inialised with T {x, y, z...}. Sorry for my poor skills in wording.
The basic code that Im trying to write is as follows:
//Clunky, Im sure there is an inbuilt class that can replace this, any information would be a nice addition
template<class T> class TerminatedArray {
public:
T* children;
int length;
TerminatedArray(const T* children) {
this->children = children;
length = 0;
while ((unsigned long)&children[length] != 0)
length++;
}
TerminatedArray() {
length = 0;
while ((unsigned long)&children[length] != 0)
length++;
}
const T get(int i) {
if (i < 0 || i >= length)
return 0;
return children[i];
}
};
const TerminatedArray<const int> i = (const TerminatedArray<const int>){(const int[]){1,2,3,4,5,6,0}};
class Settings {
public:
struct Option {
const char* name;
};
struct Directory {
const char* name;
TerminatedArray<const int> const children;
};
const Directory* baseDir;
const TerminatedArray<const Option>* options;
Settings(const Directory* _baseDir, const TerminatedArray<const Option> *_options);
};
//in some init method's:
Settings s = Settings(
&(const Settings::Directory){
"Clock",
(const TerminatedArray<const int>){(const int[]){1,2,0}}
},
&(const TerminatedArray<const Settings::Option>){(const Settings::Option[]){
{"testFoo"},
{"foofoo"},
0
}}
);
The code that I refer to is at the very bottom, the definition of s. I seem to be able to initialize a constant array of integers, but when applying the same technique to classes, it fails with:
error: taking address of temporary [-fpermissive]
I don't even know if C++ supports such things, I want to avoid having to have separate const definitions dirtying and splitting up the code, and instead have them clean and anonymous.
The reason for wanting all these definitions as constants is that Im working on an Arduino project that requires efficient balancing of SRAM to Flash. And I have a lot of Flash to my disposal.
My question is this. How can I declare a constant anonymous class/struct using aggregate initialization?
The direct (and better) equivalent to TerminatedArray is std::initializer_list:
class Settings {
public:
struct Option {
const char* name;
};
struct Directory {
const char* name;
std::initializer_list<const int> const children;
};
const Directory* baseDir;
const std::initializer_list<const Option>* options;
Settings(const Directory& _baseDir, const std::initializer_list<const Option>& _options);
};
//in some init method's:
Settings s = Settings(
{
"Clock",
{1,2,0}
},
{
{"testFoo"},
{"foofoo"}
}
);
https://godbolt.org/z/8t7j0f
However, this will almost certainly have lifetime issues (which the compiler tried to warn you about with "taking address of temporary"). If you want to store a (non-owning) pointer (or reference) then somebody else should have ownership of the object. But when initializing with temporary objects like this, nobody else does. The temporaries die at the end of the full expression, so your stored pointers now point to dead objects. Fixing this is a different matter (possibly making your requirements conflicting).
Somewhat relatedly, I'm not sure whether storing a std::initializer_list as class member is a good idea might. But it's certainly the thing you can use as function parameter to make aggregate initialization nicer.
&children[length] != 0 is still true or UB.
If you don't want to allocate memory, you might take reference to existing array:
class Settings {
public:
struct Option {
const char* name;
};
struct Directory {
const char* name;
std::span<const int> const children;
};
const Directory baseDir;
const std::span<const Option> options;
Settings(Directory baseDir, span<const Option> options);
};
//in some method:
const std::array<int, 3> ints{{1,2,0}};
const std::array<Settings::Option> options{{"testFoo"}, {"foofoo"}};
Settings s{"Clock", {ints}}, options};
First, you're not aggregate-initializing anything. This is uniform initialization and you're calling constructors instead of directly initializing members. This is because your classes have user-defined constructors, and classes with constructors can't be aggregate-initialized.
Second, you're not really able to "initialize a constant array of integers". It merely compiles. Trying to run it gives undefined behavior - in my case, trying to construct i goes into an infinite search for element value 0.
In C++, there's values on the stack, there's values on the heap and there's temporary values (I genuinely apologize to anyone who knows C++ for this statement).
Values on the heap have permanent addresses which you can pass around freely.
Values on the stack have temporary addresses which are valid until
the end of the block.
Temporary values either don't have addresses
(as your compiler warns you) or have a valid address for the duration
of the expression they're used for.
You're using such a temporary to initialize i, and trying to store and use the address of a temporary. This is an error and to fix it you can create your "temporary" array on the stack if you don't plan to use i outside of the block where your array will be.
Or you can create your array on the heap, use its address to initialize i, and remember to explicitly delete your array when you're done with it.
I recommend reading https://isocpp.org/faq and getting familiar with lifetime of variables and memory management before attempting to fix this code. It should give you a much better idea of what you need to do to make your code do what you want it to do.
Best of luck.

how to design class that has char* pointer as class member variable?

First i want to introduce my situation :
I have write some classes that has char* pointer as private class member.And also this project has GUI, so when click buttons,some functions may execute more than one time.Those classes are designed single class in project.But some functions of them can execute more than one time.Then I found my project has memory leak.
so i want to ask the following questions:
how to design the set function?
how to design the other functions that use the char* member variable?
how to design the class operator= function?
for example:
class A:
{
public :
setStr(char * s){//need new or just use =?};
A & operator=(const A& other){//also need new?};
manyTimesFunctions(char * other)
{
//need to use chars other to assignment str
//how to carefully use new to avoid memory leak?
//other may be another class's locality none const variable
}
private:
char * str;
}
So ,the project only init class A once,but may use setStr and manyTimesFunctions many times.
May be the answer:
I think i have found what i need to take care of:copy that class,that answers are really useful to me.
Just use std::string. It takes care of memory management for you. The member declaration then looks like
std::string str;
and the setter function looks like
void setStr( char const* s ) { str = s; }
Where you want to use the string and need a char const*, just write str.c_str().
With use of standard library types like std::string, and no manual dynamic allocation, you generally don't need to be concerned about operator=: the compiler-generated copy assignment works nicely.
By the way, it's generally a good idea to decide on some naming convention for member variables. Common ones for C++ include str_, mStr, and my_str. The underscore suffix is perhaps the most common one, but don't use a leading underscore like _str, because although technically allowed it conflicts with the conventions for implementation defined names (e.g. leading underscore is not allowed for identifiers in the global namespace).
I am not 100% sure what you are trying to do. However, since char* is a pointer you may be able to simply pass around the references.
char* operator=(char* s) { str = s; }
Just know that then if you modify value in your function it will modify the place you copied it from
If the char* needs to actually be a clone, so that it does not modify the original value. You first need to obtain the length of the char*.
This can be done with this function
unsigned Length(char* s)
{
unsigned I = 0;
while( *(s+I) != '\0')
I++;
return I;
}
The a new string can be created as follows
str = new char[LENGTH];
At that point you can copy the string over term by term
for(I = 0 ; I < LENGTH; I++)
{
str[I] = s[I];
}
Finally to avoid memory leaks this needs to be deleted in the class destructor
~A()
{
delete [] str;
}
Of course using std::string could save a lot of problems.
This answer will be used to contrast what the other answer(s) given that state to use std::string (and those answers are correct -- use std::string).
Let's assume that you could only use char *, you can't for some reason use std::string, and that you are dealing with NULL terminated strings. This is a synopsis of what your implementation would have to do (and please compare this with simply using std::string):
#include <algorithm>
#include <cstring>
class A
{
public:
// construct empty string
A () : str(new char[1]()) {}
// construct from non-empty
A(const char *s) : str(new char[strlen(s) + 1])
{ strcpy(str, s); }
// copy construct
A(const A& rhs) : str(new char[strlen(rhs.str) + 1])
{ strcpy(str, rhs.str); }
// destruct
~A() { delete [] str; }
// assign
A& operator=(const A& rhs)
{
A temp(rhs);
std::swap(str, temp.str);
return *this;
}
// setter
void setStr(char * s)
{
A temp(s);
*this = temp;
}
// getter
const char* getStr() { return str; }
private:
char * str;
};
Live Example
After adding a couple more constructors and a getter function, this follows the Rule of 3.
You see how much code we needed to add just to make the class safely copyable and assignable? That's why using std::string is much more convenient than using char * when it comes to class members. For std::string a single line needs to be changed, compared to adding the copy / assignment (and move, which I didn't show) functions.
The bottom line is that in C++ if you want strings, use strings (std::string) and try to keep away from using char * (unless you have a very compelling reason to be using char * to represent string data).

Replacing a non-copyable, non-movable object

Consider the following code:
// A non-copyable, non-movable aggregate
struct Strange
{
const int & i;
char & c;
};
class Container
{
private:
int my_i;
char my_c;
Strange thing;
public:
// Valid, because both `my_i´ and `my_c´ are non-const
// objects to which both references can be bound.
explicit
Container
( )
noexcept
: thing{ my_i , my_c }
{ }
// How could this be implemented?
auto &
operator=
( const Container & that )
noexcept
{
this->my_i = that->my_i;
this->my_c = that->my_c;
// What to do with `thing´?
return *this;
}
};
Possible solutions
Dynamically allocate the Strange object
class Container
{
private:
int my_i;
char my_c;
Strange * thing;
public:
// Note that it isn't exception safe.
explicit
Container
( )
: thing(new Strange{ my_i , my_c })
{ }
auto &
operator=
( const Container & that )
noexcept
{
this->my_i = that->my_i;
this->my_c = that->my_c;
delete this->thing;
this->thing = new Strange { this->my_i , this->my_c };
return *this;
}
};
Concerns:
Not efficient.
Not safe: allocation may fail and throw.
Dangerous: great care has to be taken not to leak memory.
Using a smart pointer (i.e. std::unique_ptr) would solve only the last point, aside from making the code more readable.
Use placement new
class Container
{
private:
int my_i;
char my_c;
Strange thing;
public:
explicit
Container
( )
noexcept
: thing{ my_i , my_c }
{ }
auto &
operator=
( const Container & that )
noexcept
{
this->my_i = that.my_i;
this->my_c = that.my_c;
// Placement new is exception safe, and so is
// construction of `Strange´.
this->thing.~Strange();
new(&this->thing) Strange { this->my_i , this->my_c };
return *this;
}
};
Concerns:
Will Strange's destructor free the memory taken by thing?
I think that, just as constructors, destructors are not responsible for memory management. Moreover, my code seems to work fine. However, I would like clarification on this.
What about memory alignment?
My guess is that, since it replaces an existing object of the same type, memory would already be aligned. Is this correct?
Would Container's destructor take care of destructing thing?
Questions
Aside from corroborating and/or refuting the concerns I explained above, I would like to know if there are other alternatives. If so, please, give an example implementation.
This question arose when working on a class that ought to offer an interface similar to that of std::unordered_map. Instead of reimplementing it, my class encapsulates such container, and just acts as a proxy for most methods: its iterators envelop those provided by the map, and its pair is an aggregate structure with appropiately named members (which are references to the actual data), represented in the examples provided as Strange. Since iterators are required to return references and pointers to the actual data, my custom iterators contain a pair. The problem was modifying it (when incrementing or assigning the iterator). I acknowledge that this probably isn't a good idea, and that those references will impact performance, but am anyway interested in the matter.
Edit
I have just realized that, instead of returning references and pointers to a member custom pair pointing to the actual data (that of the encapsulated map) from my custom iterator, I could return in-place constructed custom pairs (i.e. Strange objects). Often, we do not see that we are in a cave, and instead of exiting it, continue forward :). Excuse me for the noise, I'll mark the question as "Closed".
(If we're talking about moving objects and using the auto keyword, you should add the c++11 tag to your question).
I'm not sure I really understand your question; the example you gave doesn't seem well thought to me; it would be much better to use pointers in Strange.
For example, this compiles and works absolutely fine, and is functionally equivalent to what you want to do I think.
struct Strange
{
Strange()
: i(nullptr), c(nullptr) {}
Strange( const int *_i, const char *_c )
: i(_i), c(_c) {}
const int *i;
const char *c;
};
class Container
{
int my_i;
char my_c;
Strange thing;
public:
Container()
: thing(&my_i,&my_c)
{ }
Container( int i, char c )
: my_i(i), my_c(c), thing(&my_i,&my_c)
{ }
Container( int i, char c, const Strange& s )
: my_i(i), my_c(c), thing(s) // use default copy-constructor
{ }
Container &
operator=
( const Container & that )
{
my_i = that.my_i;
my_c = that.my_c;
thing = that.thing;
return *this;
}
};
int main()
{
Container a(12,24);
Container b(25,42);
b = a;
}
Note that referencing memory within objects is generally dangerous.
For example, using memcpy on this would be a catastrophy.
(Compiled with clang and g++)

Not copying char arrays, function swap doesnt compile correctly and stringPtr is not modified

//In header file: class definition:
class myString
{
public:
myString(void);
myString(const char *str);
myString(const myString &); //copy constructor
~myString(void); //destructor
void swap(myString &from);
private:
char *stringPtr;
int stringLen;
};
//in cpp file, defining them member functions
myString::myString(const char *str)
{
stringLen = strlen(str);
stringPtr = new char[stringLen+1];
strcpy(stringPtr,str);
cout << "constructor with parameter called"<<endl;
}
myString::myString(const myString &str)
{
stringPtr = new char[str.stringLen +1];
strcpy(stringPtr,str.stringPtr);
cout << "copyconstructor"<<endl;
}
void myString::swap(myString &from)
{
myString buffer(from);
int lengthBuffer = from.stringLen;
from = new char[stringLen+1];
from.stringLen = stringLen;
strcpy(from.stringPtr, stringPtr);
stringPtr = new char[lengthBuffer+1];
stringLen = lengthBuffer;
strcpy(stringPtr,buffer.stringPtr);
}
You can't modify a reference. Even if you replace it with a pointer modifying a pointer will not modify an object pointed to. Instead you need to work through the reference - just swap the fields.
void myString::swap(myString &from)
{
std::swap( stringLen, from.stringLen );
std::swap( stringPtr, from.stringPtr );
}
the above is using std::swap() as suggested by user sbi in comments. This is completely equivalent to the following (just for illustration, don't reinvent STL):
void myString::swap(myString &from)
// First remember own length and pointer
const int myOldLen = stringLen;
char* myOldPtr = stringPtr;
// now copy the length and pointer from that other string
stringLen = from.stringLen;
stringPtr = from.stringPtr;
// copy remembered length and pointer to that other string
from.StringLen = myOldLen;
from.StringPtr = myOldPtr;
// done swapping
}
Both will work even when called fro self-swapping:
myString string;
string.swap( string );
You have already gotten a few good answers concerning the errors in you myString::swap() function. Yet, I'd like to add another one. There's some many things wrong with that function, I first found it hard to think of where to begin. But then I realized that you fail on some fundamental issue which I'd like to point out:
As a convention, a function called swap is expected to perform its task
in O(1)
without ever throwing an exception.
(Yes, I know, there are exceptions: std::tr1::array<>::swap(). But those should be very well justified.) Your implementation fails on both accounts. It is O(n) (strcpy) and might throw an exception (new) -- and it does so unnecessarily and without justification.
When you look at myString, you'll see that it only has two pieces of member data, which both are of built-in type. That means swapping two objects of this class is really simple to do while keeping to the conventions mentioned above: just swap the member data. That's as simple as calling std::swap on them:
void myString::swap(myString &from)
{
std::swap(this->stringPtr,from.stringPtr);
std::swap(this->stringLen,from.stringLen);
}
This is will never fail (swapping two pointers and two integers cannot fail), executes in O(1), is very easy to understand (well, once you get a grip on that swapping, anyway; it is an idiomatic form of implementing a class-specific swap function), and consists of two lines of code calling something well-tested in the standard library instead of 8 lines of code doing error-prone (and, in your case, erroneous) manual memory management.
Note 1: Once you've done this, you should specialize std::swap to call your implementation for your class:
namespace std { // only allowed for specializing function templates in the std lib
template<>
inline void std::swap<myString>(myString& lhs, myString& rhs)
{
lhs.swap(rhs);
}
Note 2: The best (simple, exception-safe, and self-assignment-safe) way to implement assignment for your class is to use its swap:
myString& myString::operator=(const myString& rhs)
{
myString tmp(rhs); // invoke copy ctor
this->swap(tmp); // steal data from temp and leave it with our own old data
return *this;
} // tmp will automatically be destroyed and takes our old data with it
from = new char[stringLen+1]; should be from.stringPtr = new char[stringLen+1]; . Also remember to free the previously allocated memory before allocating new one.
Look closely at the line
from = new char[stringLen+1];
It is the same as
from = MyString(new char[stringLen+1]);
so your constructor of MyString get uninitialized array of chars. Then you trying to get the length of the string, but strlen just looping through chars of the string looking for 0 char. As we don't know what content uninitialized array of chars might have, we don't know what length strlen could return. It can even go further than array boundary and crash your program with segfault. But I can say for sure, after that there's not enough space in from.stringPtr to hold the string you want to copy in it.
So, use from.stringPtr = new char[stringLen+1]; or better from = MyString(*this); since you have copy constructor already.