Re: Abstract base class requires a virtual template: fixes?

From:
 dasjotre <dasjotre@googlemail.com>
Newsgroups:
comp.lang.c++
Date:
Wed, 27 Jun 2007 05:19:53 -0700
Message-ID:
<1182946793.112636.56200@o61g2000hsh.googlegroups.com>
On 27 Jun, 12:16, Dom Jackson <nos...@mci2000.com> wrote:

Hello -

I have a problem where I need to test some numeric code using a
variety of built-in integer types:

obj_type1 = obj_type2 OP obj_type3; // is obj_type1 correct?

If I test with 10 built-in integer types, then I get 1000 permutations
of the above statement. If I then test a dozen different operators, I
get over 10,000 test operations.

Obviously, I need some generic way to handle this. I can't immediately
see a static/template-based solution, but it seems like I should be
able to do this dynamically. My first pass at a solution looks like:

1 - define an 'integer object' abstract base class, IntObject

2 - define a virtual templated method 'get()' in IntObject, which
returns a pointer to an object of a templated integer type

3 - define a derived class for each integer type of interest; this
stores an object of that type, and defines the virtual 'get()'
function to return a pointer to this object

4 - my test code can now declare an array of IntObject pointers, and
can randomly select a pointer in this array. Calling the 'get()'
method then returns an object pointer of an effectively random type
for testing:

  IntObject* res_array, opL_array, opR_array;
  ...
  res_index = rand() % 10;
  opL_index = rand() % 10;
  opR_index = rand() % 10;
  *(res_array[res_index]->get()) =
     *(opL_array[opL_index]->get()) OP *(opR_array[opR_index]->get());

The problem is, this doesn't work, because C++ doesn't allow templated
virtuals:


also, there is no way for a compiler to deduce T from call to get().

class IntObject {
public:
   template<typename T>
   virtual T* get(void) const = 0; // ERROR

};

Any ideas on how I can get around this problem, or any better
solutions?


not as easy as you've tried. look up some sort of variant
like boost::variant

say you have int and long integer types to work with

typedef boost::variant<int, long> my_integer;

provide visitor for each operation and each
type combination (sorry).

struct plus_visitor : public boost::static_visitor<my_integer>
{
    my_integer operator()(int i, int j) const
    {
        return my_integer(i+j);
    }
    my_integer operator()(long i, long j) const
    {
        return my_integer(i+j);
    }
    my_integer operator()(int i, long j) const
    {
        return my_integer((long)i+j);
    }

    my_integer operator()(long i, int j) const
    {
        return my_integer(i+(long)j);
    }
};

it also works for template operators if you can
treat types generically

struct reveal : public boost::static_visitor<void>
{
    template<class T>
    void operator()(T const & t) const
    {
        std::cout << t <<'\n';
    }
};

int main()
{
    my_integer i(1); // hold int
    my_integer j(1L); // holds long

       // k = i + j;
    my_integer k = ::boost::apply_visitor(plus_visitor(), i, j);

    ::boost::apply_visitor(reveal(), k);
}

That is the best I can think of.

Many thanks -

Dom


regards

DS

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