CODEWITHSUNDEEP
c++
Patrick
Patrick

Reputation: 93

Class constructor with structure components

I am defining a constructor in a class that takes in 5 arguments to initialize the fields. Two of those arguments/field come from a Date structure. 

Information(string NewName, Date start, Date finish,
            double newNumber, double newLevel);

Is this the proper format for doing so?

Also, how would I go about inputting the arguments in int main () ? Something like this? How do I go about putting values into the structure arguments? Do they go into quotes?

Information arguments("Susan Jones", "3/5/5", "3/5/5", 15, 58);

Date structure:

 struct Date
  {
    int month;
    int day;
    int year;
  };

Upvotes: 0

Views: 106

Answers (2)

Mooing Duck
Mooing Duck

Reputation: 66981

The Information constructor you show looks reasonable. For medium or large objects, you might want to pass by const Date& instead of just Date, but for small/simple/fast objects like you have, making copies shouldn't be that big of a deal. Here's the "normal" way:

Information(const string& NewName, const Date& start, const Date& finish,
      double newNumber, double newLevel);

However, "3/5/5" is not the right way to construct an instance of Date. There's two ways, both shown below. The first is easier to understand, but the second is far less code.

Date start;
start.month = 3;
start.day = 5;
start.year = 5;

Date finish;
start.month = 3;
start.day = 5;
start.year = 5;

Information arguments("Susan Jones", start, finish, 15, 58);

or

Information arguments("Susan Jones", {3,5,5}, {3,5,5}, 15, 58);

Upvotes: 0

Ivaylo Strandjev
Ivaylo Strandjev

Reputation: 71009

It is better to pass const references to non-basic types used in the constructor. So make Data const& instead of just copies. To be more specific:

Information(const string& NewName,const Date& start,const Date& finish,
          double newNumber, double newLevel);

Also assuming that Date has a constructor taking an std::string or const char* the way you call the constructor is correct(although it seems you are calling the constructor of another class called Paycheck).

Otherwise the code seems reasonable.

Upvotes: 1

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