copy constructor
Author
can someone show me what a copy constructor is? I cant find an example in the MSDN.
class ExampleClass{int m_someMember;public:ExampleClass() : m_someMember(0) {} // Ordinary constructorExampleClass( const ExampleClass &c ) : m_someMember( c.m_someMember) {} // Copy constructor}; Basically, the copy constructor always follows the syntax Classname( const Classname &otherObject), and allows you to "copy" the values of otherObject into the object under construction.
A copy constructor is invoked when you want to create an object based on another of the same type. For example:
A copy constructor simply uses the same syntax as a normal constructor except that it has one object of the same type.
It would be invoked when passing a class by value or when you create a new object:
class SomeObj{private: int x;public: SomeObj(const SomeObj& copyFromMe): x(copyFromMe.x) { }}; A copy constructor simply uses the same syntax as a normal constructor except that it has one object of the same type.
It would be invoked when passing a class by value or when you create a new object:
SomeObj first;SomeObj second(first); // copy constructor here
Author
I need it for using STL list, it reccomends using an overloaded = operator at the same time.
I guess you could make the = operator do all the member transfers, and just the assignment operator in the constructor.
I guess you could make the = operator do all the member transfers, and just the assignment operator in the constructor.
You only need a copy-constructor if you are doing something
fancy with memory allocation - if you aren''t don''t bother
because the compiler will generate a default copy constructor
following example where we are doing fancy memory stuff:
class A
{
char* data;
A () { data = new char[10]; }
~A() { if (data) delete data; }
};
Following situation:
A instance1;
A instance2 (instance1);
In this case the default copy-constructor would copy the
pointer (not the data pointer to!) which means that when
the objects get destroyed in the destructor, you are in for trouble...
Instance1 will free the data-block... instance 2 will
try to free the same data-block - not good...
In this case you want a copy-constructor which allocates
enough memory to hold the data and memcpy the data into
the new instance
Oh and if you use operator= be carefull for instance1=instance2, check this with the operator=param and just return if they are
the same
Regards
/Roger
fancy with memory allocation - if you aren''t don''t bother
because the compiler will generate a default copy constructor
following example where we are doing fancy memory stuff:
class A
{
char* data;
A () { data = new char[10]; }
~A() { if (data) delete data; }
};
Following situation:
A instance1;
A instance2 (instance1);
In this case the default copy-constructor would copy the
pointer (not the data pointer to!) which means that when
the objects get destroyed in the destructor, you are in for trouble...
Instance1 will free the data-block... instance 2 will
try to free the same data-block - not good...
In this case you want a copy-constructor which allocates
enough memory to hold the data and memcpy the data into
the new instance
Oh and if you use operator= be carefull for instance1=instance2, check this with the operator=param and just return if they are
the same
Regards
/Roger
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