CODEWITHSUNDEEP
c++arraysclassarduinoinitialization
ewoolsey
ewoolsey

Reputation: 121

initializing array of variable size inside a class

I am trying to initialize an array of size n based off the input argument of my constructor. This works:

//Inside Header
class runningAverage{
    private:
        byte n;
        float array[10];
    public:
        runningAverage(byte);
};

//Inside .cpp
runningAverage::runningAverage(byte a){
    n = a;
    for (byte i = 0; i<n; i++) {
        array[i] = 0;
    }
}

and this does not work:

//Inside Header
class runningAverage{
    private:
        byte n;
        float array[];
    public:
        runningAverage(byte);
};

//Inside .cpp
runningAverage::runningAverage(byte a){
    n = a;
    for (byte i = 0; i<n; i++) {
        array[i] = 0;
    }
}

I want to initialize the array so that is the size specified by n. This way I don't waste memory by arbitrarily specifying float array[256] or something like that. Any help is appreciated!

Upvotes: 2

Views: 5476

Answers (3)

coder.in.me
coder.in.me

Reputation: 1068

  1. Your member should be a pointer so that dynamic memory allocation can happen when object is constructed: float *array;.
  2. In constructor, use array = new float[a];
  3. In constructor, initialize preferably using memset rather than a loop.
  4. Have a destructor to release the memory with this line: delete[] array;
  5. To get it to compile, you need this line: #include <new>
  6. To link, don't forget to include linker flag -lstdc++ when using g++.

Since you appear to be a beginner, take a look at this useful reference for you study: http://www.cplusplus.com/doc/tutorial/dynamic/

Upvotes: 1

Slyps
Slyps

Reputation: 607

If you only know the size at runtime, Jason C's answer is what you want. ( With juanchopanzas comment )

If the size is known at compile time, you can use templates:

template < int SIZE >
class runningAverage
{
    float array [ SIZE ];
};

runningAverage < 10 > ra;

Or use classes like std::array instead of std::vector.

Upvotes: 3

Jason C
Jason C

Reputation: 40335

You have to actually allocate the array; and you'll want to use a pointer type, float array[] is not what you think there. As juanchopanza reminds us, you'll also want to either disable the copy constructor and assignment operator, or implement ones that do a proper deep copy.

//Inside Header
class runningAverage{
    private:
        byte n;
        float *array; // <= correct type
    public:
        runningAverage(byte);
        ~runningAverage(); // <= you'll need a destructor to cleanup
    private:
        runningAverage(const runningAverage &);
        runningAverage & operator = (const runningAverage &);
};

//Inside .cpp
runningAverage::runningAverage(byte a){
    array = new float[n]; // <= allocate array
    n = a;
    for (byte i = 0; i<n; i++) {
        array[i] = 0;
    }
}

// clean up
runningAverage::~runningAverage(){
    delete[] array;
}

However, if you have some dynamic, automatic container at your disposal (e.g. std::vector) you might want to use that instead - then you don't have to deal with copy / assignment / destructor / memory management.

Upvotes: 6

Related Questions