Composite type creation

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The fundamental data types and their variations are essential, but rather primitive. C and C++ provide tools that allow you to compose more sophisticated data types from the fundamental data types. As you’ll see, the most important of these is struct, which is the foundation for class in C++. However, the simplest way to create more sophisticated types is simply to alias a name to another name via typedef.

Aliasing names with typedef

This keyword promises more than it delivers: typedef suggests “type definition” when “alias” would probably have been a more accurate description, since that’s what it really does. The syntax is:

typedef existing-type-description alias-name

People often use typedef when data types get slightly complicated, just to prevent extra keystrokes. Here is a commonly-used typedef:

typedef unsigned long ulong;

Now if you say ulong the compiler knows that you mean unsigned long. You might think that this could as easily be accomplished using preprocessor substitution, but there are key situations in which the compiler must be aware that you’re treating a name as if it were a type, so typedef is essential.

One place where typedef comes in handy is for pointer types. As previously mentioned, if you say:

int* x, y;

This actually produces an int* which is x and an int (not an int*) which is y. That is, the ‘*’ binds to the right, not the left. However, if you use a typedef:

typedef int* IntPtr;
IntPtr x, y;

Then both x and y are of type int*.

You can argue that it’s more explicit and therefore more readable to avoid typedefs for primitive types, and indeed programs rapidly become difficult to read when many typedefs are used. However, typedefs become especially important in C when used with struct.

Combining variables with struct

A struct is a way to collect a group of variables into a structure. Once you create a struct, then you can make many instances of this “new” type of variable you’ve invented. For example:

//: C03:SimpleStruct.cpp
struct Structure1 {
  char c;
  int i;
  float f;
  double d;
};

int main() {
  struct Structure1 s1, s2;
  s1.c = 'a'; // Select an element using a '.'
  s1.i = 1;
  s1.f = 3.14;
  s1.d = 0.00093;
  s2.c = 'a';
  s2.i = 1;
  s2.f = 3.14;
  s2.d = 0.00093;
} ///:~

The struct declaration must end with a semicolon. In main( ), two instances of Structure1 are created: s1 and s2. Each of these has their own separate versions of c, i, f, and d. So s1 and s2 represent clumps of completely independent variables. To select one of the elements within s1 or s2, you use a ‘.’, syntax you’ve seen in the previous chapter when using C++ class objects – since classes evolved from structs, this is where that syntax arose from.

One thing you’ll notice is the awkwardness of the use of Structure1 (as it turns out, this is only required by C, not C++). In C, you can’t just say Structure1 when you’re defining variables, you must say struct Structure1. This is where typedef becomes especially handy in C:

//: C03:SimpleStruct2.cpp
// Using typedef with struct
typedef struct {
  char c;
  int i;
  float f;
  double d;
} Structure2;

int main() {
  Structure2 s1, s2;
  s1.c = 'a';
  s1.i = 1;
  s1.f = 3.14;
  s1.d = 0.00093;
  s2.c = 'a';
  s2.i = 1;
  s2.f = 3.14;
  s2.d = 0.00093;
} ///:~

By using typedef in this way, you can pretend (in C; try removing the typedef for C++) that Structure2 is a built-in type, like int or float, when you define s1 and s2 (but notice it only has data – characteristics – and does not include behavior, which is what we get with real objects in C++). You’ll notice that the struct identifier has been left off at the beginning, because the goal is to create the typedef. However, there are times when you might need to refer to the struct during its definition. In those cases, you can actually repeat the name of the struct as the struct name and as the typedef:

//: C03:SelfReferential.cpp
// Allowing a struct to refer to itself

typedef struct SelfReferential {
  int i;
  SelfReferential* sr; // Head spinning yet?
} SelfReferential;

int main() {
  SelfReferential sr1, sr2;
  sr1.sr = &sr2;
  sr2.sr = &sr1;
  sr1.i = 47;
  sr2.i = 1024;
} ///:~

If you look at this for awhile, you’ll see that sr1 and sr2 point to each other, as well as each holding a piece of data.

Actually, the struct name does not have to be the same as the typedef name, but it is usually done this way as it tends to keep things simpler.

Pointers and structs

In the examples above, all the structs are manipulated as objects. However, like any piece of storage, you can take the address of a struct object (as seen in SelfReferential.cpp above). To select the elements of a particular struct object, you use a ‘.’, as seen above. However, if you have a pointer to a struct object, you must select an element of that object using a different operator: the ‘->’. Here’s an example:

//: C03:SimpleStruct3.cpp
// Using pointers to structs
typedef struct Structure3 {
  char c;
  int i;
  float f;
  double d;
} Structure3;

int main() {
  Structure3 s1, s2;
  Structure3* sp = &s1;
  sp->c = 'a';
  sp->i = 1;
  sp->f = 3.14;
  sp->d = 0.00093;
  sp = &s2; // Point to a different struct object
  sp->c = 'a';
  sp->i = 1;
  sp->f = 3.14;
  sp->d = 0.00093;
} ///:~

In main( ), the struct pointer sp is initially pointing to s1, and the members of s1 are initialized by selecting them with the ‘->’ (and you use this same operator in order to read those members). But then sp is pointed to s2, and those variables are initialized the same way. So you can see that another benefit of pointers is that they can be dynamically redirected to point to different objects; this provides more flexibility in your programming, as you will learn.

For now, that’s all you need to know about structs, but you’ll become much more comfortable with them (and especially their more potent successors, classes) as the book progresses.

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