Object Oriented Programming - Lecture 6

Diana Borza - diana.borza@ubbcluj.ro

April 5, 2023

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 ”C makes it easy to shoot yourself in the foot; C++ makes it harder, but
when you do it blows your whole leg off.” (B. Stroustrup)

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Content

Streams
C++ standard library - STL
Containers
Iterators

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Streams I

Stream: a sequence of bytes flowing in or out of a program. The

bytes are accessed sequentially.
A stream is an abstraction for receiving/sending data in an
input/output situation.

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Streams II

Streams act as an intermediate between programs and the actual IO

devices (the programmers don’t need to write code for handling the
actual devices). We only need to know how to interact with the
stream.
Input streams are used to hold input from a data producer (or a
source), such as a keyboard, a file, or a network.
Output streams are used to hold output for a particular data
consumer (or a sink), such as a monitor, a file, or a printer.
Some devices, such as files and networks, are capable of being both
input and output sources.

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Streams III

Streams are serial:

data elements must be sent to or received from a stream one at a time
or in a serial fashion.
random access (random reads/writes) are not possible; it’s possible to
seek a position in a stream and perform a read or write operation at
that point.

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Streams in C++

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Streams in C++

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Streams in C++

The ios class defines the functionalities and variables that are
common to both input and output streams.
The istream class is the primary class used when dealing with input
streams.
the extraction operator (>>) is used to remove values from the
stream.
The ostream class is the primary class used when dealing with output
streams.
the insertion operator (<<) is used to put values into the stream
The iostream class can handle both input and output, allowing
bidirectional I/O.

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Standard streams

cin – object of an istream class tied to the standard input (typically

the keyboard);
cout – object of an ostream class tied to the standard output
(typically the monitor);
cerr – object of an ostream class tied to the standard error (typically
the monitor), providing unbuffered output;
clog – object of an ostream class tied to the standard error (typically
the monitor), providing buffered output.

Unbuffered output is typically handled immediately, whereas buffered

output is typically stored and written out as a block.

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Output: Insertion operator <<

Insertion operator << is used for writing operations on a stream

(the standard output, in a file or in a memory zone).
the operand from the left hand side of the operator<< must be an
object of class ostream (or of a derived class).
the operand from the right hand side can be an expression.
the << operator is overloaded for standard types, and for custom
types the programmer must overload it.
since the << operator returns a reference to the current class, it may
be chained and the function calls are made from left to right.

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Input: Extraction operator >>

The extraction operator >> is used for reading operations (from

the keyboard, from a file, from the network).
the operand from the left hand side of the operator >> must be an
object of class istream (or of a derived class).
the operand from the right hand side should be a variable.
the >> operator is overloaded for standard types, and for custom
types the programmer must overload it.
since the >> operator returns a reference to the current class, it may
be chained and the function calls are made from left to right.

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Error flags

Error flags indicate the internal state of a stream.

They are automatically set by some input/output functions of the
stream, to signal certain errors.

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Stream states

To check an error flag, the following methods can be used:

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Manipulators I

Functions specifically designed to be used in conjunction with the

insertion and extraction operators on stream objects.
Manipulators are placed in a stream and affect the way elements are
displayed or read.
Are used to change formatting parameters on streams and
Are defined in the header iomanip.

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Manipulators II
http:
//www.cplusplus.com/reference/library/manipulators/
boolalpha - Alphanumerical bool values
showbase - Show numerical base prefixes
showpoint - Show decimal point
showpos - Show positive signs
dec - Use decimal base
hex Use hexadecimal base
oct - Use octal base
internal - Adjust field by inserting characters at an internal position
left - Adjust output to the left
right - Adjust output to the right
endl - Insert newline and flush
ends - Insert null character
flush - Flush stream buffer
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Input validation

from header <cctype>

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File I/O

Files are data structures that are stored on a disk device.

To work with files one must connect a stream to the file on disk.
Any input or output operation performed on the stream will be
applied to the physical file associated with it.
There are 3 basic file I/O classes in C++:
fstream (derived from iostream);
ifstream (derived from istream) → input operations;
ofstream (derived from ostream) → output operations;
To use a file in C++ you have to follow the steps:
open a file for reading and/or writing ( simply instantiate an object of
the appropriate file I/O class);
use the insertion (<<) or extraction (>>) operator to write to or read
data from the file;
when finished, close the file.

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Opening a file I

Opening a file means that you are associating a file stream with a file
on the disk;
The constructor of the classes ifstream and ofstream will open the
file, if the filename is passed as an argument.
Alternatively, a file can be opened with the fstream member function
open.
To check that a file is open you can use the function method
is open() (returns a bool).

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Opening a file II

mode is an optional parameter with a combination of the following

flags:
ios::in - open for input operations.
ios::out - open for output operations.
ios::binary - open in binary mode.
ios::ate - set the initial position at the end of the file. If this flag is not
set, the initial position is the beginning of the file.
ios::app - all output operations are performed at the end of the file,
appending the content to the current content of the file.
ios::trunc - if the file is opened for output operations and if already
existed, its previous content is deleted and replaced by the new one.
These flags can be combined using the bitwise operator OR (|).

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Reading from a file

Simply use the extraction operator to read data from a file.

The ifstream’s flag EOF (end of file) gets set only after a failed
attempt to read past the end of the file.
In case of corrupted data, the stream might fail to read them and
EOF will never be reached (infinite loop)!
Solution: if a read operation fails, the ifstream’s operator bool() will
convert the ifstream object to false, if any errors occur during the read
operation; → read while the boolean value of the stream is true.

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Writing to a file

Use the insertion operator.

Output in C++ may be buffered (the elements from the stream
might not be written immediately to the file).
A buffer is a memory block that acts as an intermediary between the
stream and the physical source or destination.
Each iostream object contains a pointer to a streambuf.
When a buffer is written to disk, this is called flushing the buffer.
Flushing occurs when:
the close() function is called;
ostream::flush() function is called;
std::endl manipulator also flushes the buffer.

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Closing a file

The stream’s member function close() flushes the buffer and closes
the file.
Once a file is closed, it is available again to be opened by other
processes.
The close command will automatically be called when the stream
object associated with an open file is destroyed.

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Container classes

A container - is a class designed to hold and organize multiple

instances of another type (either another class, or a fundamental
type).
Common operations on containers:
Create an empty container (via a constructor);
Insert a new object into the container;
Remove an object from the container;
Return the number of objects from the container;
Empty the container (remove all the objects from it);
Access to the stored objects;
Sort the elements (optional).

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Growth rates

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C++ STANDARD LIBRARY - STL

Advantages of using STL:

simplicity: use well written existing code, instead of writing everything
from scratch;
correctness: well tested, known to be correct;
efficiency: generally, structures and algorithms from STL have a
better performance than the code we write;
maintainability: code is easier to understand and more
straightforward.
Using STL your code becomes easier to read, write, maintain and
enhance!

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STL containers

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Sequence containers

Sequence containers are container classes that maintain the

ordering of elements in the container.
What is the difference between ordered and sorted?
You can choose where to insert your element by position.

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std::array

Is a container that encapsulates fixed size arrays.

Has the same semantics as a struct holding a C-style array T[N] as its
only data member.
Combines the performance and accessibility of a C-style array with
the benefits of a standard container (knowing its own size, supporting
assignment, random access iterators).

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std::vector

It is a sequence container that encapsulates dynamic size arrays.

The elements are stored contiguously → elements can be accessed
not only through iterators, but also using offsets to regular pointers to
elements.
The storage of the vector is handled automatically, being expanded
and contracted as needed.
capacity() actual allocated memory; capacity() - size of the vector;
Complexity of common operations:
Random access ( at, [] operator - constant O(1);
Insertion or removal of elements at the end push back, pop back -
amortized constant O(1);
Insertion or removal of elements insert, erase - linear in the distance to
the end of the vector O(n)

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std::deque

Double-ended queue class, implemented as a dynamic array that can

grow from both ends.
Allows fast insertion and deletion at both its beginning and its end.
As opposed to std::vector, the elements of a deque are not stored
contiguously.
The storage of a deque is automatically expanded and contracted as
needed. Expansion of a deque is cheaper than the expansion of a
std::vector.
Complexity of common operations:
Random access - constant O(1);
Insertion or removal of elements at the end or beginning - constant
O(1);
Insertion or removal of elements - linear O(n).

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std::list

List containers are implemented as doubly-linked lists;

Adding, removing and moving the elements does not invalidate the
iterators or references. An iterator is invalidated only when the
corresponding element is deleted.
Compared to other sequence containers (array, vector and deque),
lists perform generally better in inserting, extracting and moving
elements in any position within the container;
Main drawback: that they lack direct access to the elements by their
position.

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Associative containers

Associative containers are containers that automatically sort their

inputs when those inputs are inserted into the container. By default,
associative containers compare elements using operator <.

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std::set

A set is a container that stores unique elements, with duplicate

elements disallowed.
The elements are sorted according to their values. Sorting is done
using a comparison function that you can redefine.
A multiset is a set where duplicate elements are allowed.

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std::map

A map: is a set where each element is a key/value pair.

The key is used for sorting and indexing the data, and must be
unique.
The value is the actual data.
A multimap (a dictionary) is a map that allows duplicate keys.

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Derived containers

Derived containers are special predefined containers that are adapted

to specific uses.
They provide a different interface for sequential containers.
stack
queue
priority queue

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std::stack

a container where elements

operate in a LIFO (Last In,
First Out) context;
elements are inserted (pushed)
to the front of the container;
elements are removed (popped)
from the front of the container;
use deque as their default
sequence container.

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std::queue, std::priority queue

a container where elements operate in a

FIFO (First In, First Out) context;
elements are inserted (pushed) to the back
of the container;
elements are removed (popped) from the
front of the container;
use deque as their default sequence
container.
A priority queue is a queue where the
elements are sorted (via operator<). At
push the element is sorted in the queue. At
pop (deque) the element with the highest
priority is removed.

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Decisions, decisions...

https://web.archive.org/web/20180824133558/homepages.e3.
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Iterators I

An Iterator is an object that can traverse (iterate over) a container

class without the user having to know how the container is
implemented.
? What OOP feature is this ?
Can be visualized as a pointer to a given element in the container.

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Iterators II

Operators defined in iterators:

Operator* : dereferences the iterator → return the element that the
iterator is pointing at.
Operator++: moves the iterator to the next element in the container.
Operator- - to move to the previous element.
Operator== and Operator!=: basic comparison operators;
Operator=: assigns the iterator to a new position.

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Iterators III

All C++ containers provide (at least) two types of iterators:

container::iterator - read/write iterator
container::const iterator - read-only iterator
Each container includes four basic member functions to work with
iterators:
begin(): returns an iterator representing the beginning of the elements
in the container.
end(): returns an iterator representing the element just past the end of
the elements.
cbegin(): returns a const (read-only) iterator representing the
beginning of the elements in the container.
cend(): returns a const (read-only) iterator representing the element
just past the end of the elements.

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