CODEWITHSUNDEEP
c++classpointersmemory
yangxiao
yangxiao

Reputation: 23

Memory occupation with "this" pointer

Could anyone tell me if the pointer "this" in object of class occupy memory when it was created?

class Temp {
private:
    Temp &operator=(const Temp &t) { return *this; }
}

Upvotes: 2

Views: 79

Answers (2)

Kostiantyn Kurbatskyi
Kostiantyn Kurbatskyi

Reputation: 364

No, "this" is already by itself a memory reference and hence it would not occupy more memory than the object already does.

Upvotes: 0

molbdnilo
molbdnilo

Reputation: 66431

this is the address of the object whose member function is being called, and it doesn't need to be stored anywhere.
It is usually implemented by passing its value as a "hidden" argument to the member functions, so it occupies memory in the same way as any other function argument occupies memory.

The "object-oriented" code

struct A
{
    int f() { return this->x; }
    int x;
};

int g()
{
    A a;
    return a.f();
}

will usually be implemented like this "non-object-oriented" code:

struct A
{
    int x;
};

int Af(A* self)
{
    return self->x;
}

int g()
{
    A a;
    return Af(&a);
}

Upvotes: 6

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