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C++ Programming

Class and Object

Ch 7: Gaddis, Starting Out with C++ Early Objects 8th ed

Lab Six
Copyright 2014, 2008 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Pearson Addison-Wesley
 Abstract Data Types
Programmer-created data types that specify
legal values that can be stored
operations that can be done on the values

The user of an abstract data type (ADT)

does not need to know any implementation
details (e.g., how the data is stored or how the
operations on it are carried out)
Copyright 2014, 2008 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Pearson Addison-Wesley
 Abstraction in Software Development

Abstraction allows a programmer to design a

solution to a problem and to use data items without
concern for how the data items are implemented
This has already been encountered in the book:
To use the pow function, you need to know what
inputs it expects and what kind of results it
produces
You do not need to know how it works

Copyright 2014, 2008 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Pearson Addison-Wesley 7-3
 Abstraction and Data Types
Abstraction: a definition that captures general
characteristics without details
Example: An abstract triangle is a 3-sided polygon.
A specific triangle may be scalene, isosceles, or
equilateral

Data Type: defines the kind of values that can

be stored and the operations that can be
performed on it

Copyright 2014, 2008 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Pearson Addison-Wesley 7-4
 Object-Oriented Programming
Procedural Programming uses variables to
store data, and focuses on the processes/
functions that occur in a program.
Data and functions are separate and distinct.

Object-oriented Programming is based on

objects that encapsulate the data and the
functions that operate on it.

Copyright 2014, 2008 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Pearson Addison-Wesley 7-5
 Object-Oriented Programming (cont.)

object: software entity that combines data and

functions that act on the data in a single unit

attributes: the data items of an object, stored in

member variables

member functions (methods): procedures/

functions that act on the attributes of the class

Copyright 2014, 2008 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Pearson Addison-Wesley 7-6
 Object Example
Square
Member variables (attributes)
int side;
Member functions
void setSide(int s)
{ side = s; }

int getSide()
{ return side; }
Square objects data item: side
Square objects functions: setSide - set the size of the side of the square,
getSide - return the size of the side of the square

Copyright 2014, 2008 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Pearson Addison-Wesley 7-7
 Introduction to Classes
Class: a programmer-defined data type used
to define objects

It is a pattern for creating objects

Example:
string fName, lName;
creates two objects of the string class

Copyright 2014, 2008 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Pearson Addison-Wesley 7-8
 Introduction to Classes

Class declaration format:

class className
{
declaration;
declaration;
}; Notice the
required ;

Copyright 2014, 2008 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Pearson Addison-Wesley 7-9
 Access Specifiers

Used to control access to members of the class.

Each member is declared to be either
public: can be accessed by functions
outside of the class
or
private: can only be called by or accessed
by functions that are members of
the class

Copyright 2014, 2008 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Pearson Addison-Wesley 7-10
 Class Example
class Square
{
private:
Access
specifiers int side;
public:
void setSide(int s)
{ side = s; }
int getSide()
{ return side; }
};
Copyright 2014, 2008 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Pearson Addison-Wesley 7-11
 More on Access Specifiers

Can be listed in any order in a class

Can appear multiple times in a class

If not specified, the default is private

Copyright 2014, 2008 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Pearson Addison-Wesley 7-12
 Creating and Using Objects

An object is an instance of a class

It is defined just like other variables
Square sq1, sq2;
It can access members using dot operator
sq1.setSide(5);
cout << sq1.getSide();

Copyright 2014, 2008 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Pearson Addison-Wesley 7-13
 Defining Member Functions

Member functions are part of a class declaration

Entire function definition can be place inside

class declaration

Or using prototype inside the class declaration

and write the function definition after the class

Copyright 2014, 2008 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Pearson Addison-Wesley 7-14
 Defining Member Functions Inside
the Class Declaration
Member functions defined inside the class
declaration are called inline functions
Only very short functions, like the one below,
should be inline functions
int getSide(){
return side; }

Copyright 2014, 2008 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Pearson Addison-Wesley 7-15
 Inline Member Function (Example)

class Square
{
private:
int side;
public:
inline
void setSide(int s)
functions { side = s; }
int getSide()
{ return side; }
};
Copyright 2014, 2008 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Pearson Addison-Wesley 7-16
 Defining Member Functions After the
Class Declaration

Put a function prototype in the class declaration

In the function definition, precede the function name
with the class name and scope resolution operator
(::)
Example:
int Square::getSide(){
return side;
}
Copyright 2014, 2008 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Pearson Addison-Wesley 7-17
 Constructors
A constructor is a member function that is
often used to initialize data members of a class
Is called automatically when an object of the
class is created
It must be a public member function
It must be named the same as the class
It must have no return type

Copyright 2014, 2008 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Pearson Addison-Wesley 7-18
 Constructor (examples)

Inline: Declaration outside the

class:
class Square{
. . . Square(int);//prototype
//inside class
public:
Square::Square(int s){
Square(int s){ side = s;
side = s; } }
. . .
};

Copyright 2014, 2008 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Pearson Addison-Wesley 7-19
 Overloading Constructors
A class can have more than one
constructor

Overloaded constructors in a class must

have different parameter lists

Example: Square();
Square(int);
Copyright 2014, 2008 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Pearson Addison-Wesley 7-20
 The Default Constructor
Constructors can have any number of
parameters, including none
A default constructor is one that takes no
arguments either due to
No parameters or
All parameters have default values
If a class has any programmer-defined
constructors, it must have a programmer-
defined default constructor
Copyright 2014, 2008 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Pearson Addison-Wesley 7-21
 Default Constructor Example
class Square
{
private: Has no
int side; parameters

public:
Square(){ // default
side = 1; } // constructor
// Other member
// functions go here
};

Copyright 2014, 2008 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Pearson Addison-Wesley 7-22
Another Default Constructor (example 2)
class Square
{
private: Has parameter
int side; but it has a
default value
public:
Square(int s = 1) // default
{ side = s; } // constructor
// Other member
// functions go here
};

Copyright 2014, 2008 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Pearson Addison-Wesley 7-23
 Invoking a Constructor

To create an object using the default constructor,

use no argument list and no ()
Square square1;

To create an object using a constructor that has

parameters, include an argument list
Square square1(8);

Copyright 2014, 2008 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Pearson Addison-Wesley 7-24
 Destructors
Is a public member function automatically
called when an object is destroyed
The destructor name is ~className, e.g.,
~Square
It has no return type
It takes no arguments
Only 1 destructor is allowed per class
(i.e., it cannot be overloaded)

Copyright 2014, 2008 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Pearson Addison-Wesley 7-25
 Private Member Functions
A private member function can
only be called by another member
function of the same class
It is used for internal processing by
the class, not for use outside of the
class
Copyright 2014, 2008 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Pearson Addison-Wesley 7-26
 NOTE

Separating class declaration, member

function definitions, and the program that
uses the class into separate files is
considered good design

Copyright 2014, 2008 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Pearson Addison-Wesley 7-27
 EXERCISE
Write a simple class to represent a circle, with
three functions: one to set radius, another one
to compute area, another one for computing
circumference.

Modify it with adding default constructor that

can set the radius and also destructor.

Copyright 2014, 2008 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Pearson Addison-Wesley 1-28
 Inside vs. Outside the Class

Class should be designed to provide functions to

store and retrieve data
In general, input and output (I/O) should be
done by functions that use class objects, rather
than by class member functions

Copyright 2014, 2008 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Pearson Addison-Wesley 7-29
 Structures
Structure: Programmer-defined data type that
allows multiple variables to be grouped together

Structure Declaration Format:

struct structure name{
type1 field1;
type2 field2;

typen fieldn;
};

Copyright 2014, 2008 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Pearson Addison-Wesley 7-30
 Example struct Declaration

struct Student{
structure name

int studentID;
string name; structure members
short year;
double gpa;
}; Notice the
required
;
Copyright 2014, 2008 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Pearson Addison-Wesley 7-31
 struct declaration Notes
struct names commonly begin with an
uppercase letter
The structure name is also called the tag
Multiple fields of same type can be in a
comma-separated list
string name,
address;
Fields in a structure are all public by default

Copyright 2014, 2008 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Pearson Addison-Wesley 7-32
 Defining Structure Variables

struct declaration does not allocate memory

or create variables
To define variables, use structure tag as type
name
s1
Student s1;
studentID
name
year

gpa

Copyright 2014, 2008 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Pearson Addison-Wesley 7-33
 Accessing Structure Members

Use the dot (.) operator to refer to

members of struct variables
getline(cin, s1.name);
cin >> s1.studentID;
s1.gpa = 3.75;
Member variables can be used in any
manner appropriate for their data type

Copyright 2014, 2008 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Pearson Addison-Wesley 7-34
 Displaying struct Members
To display the contents of a struct variable,
you must display each field separately, using
the dot operator.
Wrong:
cout << s1; // wont work!

Correct:
cout << s1.studentID << endl;
cout << s1.name << endl;
cout << s1.year << endl;
cout << s1.gpa;
Copyright 2014, 2008 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Pearson Addison-Wesley 7-35
 Comparing struct Members

Similar to displaying a struct, you cannot

compare two struct variables directly:

if (s1 >= s2) // wont work!

Instead, compare member variables:

if (s1.gpa >= s2.gpa) // better

Copyright 2014, 2008 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Pearson Addison-Wesley 7-36
 NOTE
It is not allowed to initialize members in the
structure declaration, because no memory has
been allocated yet

struct Student // Illegal

{ // initialization
int studentID = 1145;
string name = "Alex";
short year = 1;
float gpa = 2.95;
};
Copyright 2014, 2008 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Pearson Addison-Wesley 7-37
 Initializing a Structure

Structure members are initialized at the time a

structure variable is created

Can initialize a structure variables members with

either
an initialization list
a constructor

Copyright 2014, 2008 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Pearson Addison-Wesley 7-38
 Initialization List Example

Structure Declaration
Structure Variable
struct Dimensions box
{ int length, length 12
width, width
height; 6
}; height 3

Dimensions box = {12,6,3};

Copyright 2014, 2008 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Pearson Addison-Wesley 7-39
 Partial Initialization

Can initialize just some members, but cannot

skip over members
Dimensions box1 = {12,6}; //OK

Dimensions box2 = {12,,3};

//illegal

Copyright 2014, 2008 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Pearson Addison-Wesley 7-40
 Problems with Initialization List

Cant omit a value for a member without

omitting values for all following members
Does not work on most modern compilers if the
structure contains any string objects
Will, however, work with C-string members

Copyright 2014, 2008 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Pearson Addison-Wesley 7-41
 Using a Constructor to Initialize
Structure Members
Similar to a constructor for a class:
name is the same as the name of the struct
no return type
used to initialize data members

It is normally written inside the struct

declaration

Copyright 2014, 2008 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Pearson Addison-Wesley 7-42
 A Structure with a Constructor

struct Dimensions
{
int length,
width,
height;
// Constructor
Dimensions(int L, int W, int H){
length = L;
width = W;
height = H;
}
};
Copyright 2014, 2008 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Pearson Addison-Wesley 7-43
 EXERCISE
Write a simple program that use
structure to store school information.

Modify it with adding constructor that

can initialise all its variable.

Copyright 2014, 2008 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Pearson Addison-Wesley 1-44