Re: Why RTTI is considered as a bad design?

From:
Leigh Johnston <leigh@i42.co.uk>
Newsgroups:
comp.lang.c++
Date:
Thu, 23 Aug 2012 20:08:20 +0100
Message-ID:
<K7udneN6FKU44qvNnZ2dnUVZ8uGdnZ2d@giganews.com>
On 23/08/2012 19:19, Noah Roberts wrote:

On Thursday, August 23, 2012 10:29:00 AM UTC-7, ?? Tiib wrote:

Maybe try to pack up your words with code example?


struct lock {
   virtual ~lock() {}
   virtual void unlock() = 0;
   virtual bool engaged() const = 0;
};

struct null_lock : lock {
   void unlock() {}
   bool engaged() const { return false; }
};

struct single_lock : lock {
   void unlock() { state = UNLOCKED; }
   bool engaged() const { return state == LOCKED; }
};

// can be added later...
struct multi_lock : lock {
   // probably have this syntax wrong...
   void unlock() { for ( lock & current_lock : locks) current_lock.unlock(); }

   bool engaged() const {
     return find_if(locks.begin(), locks.end(), bind(&lock::engaged, _1)) != locks.end();
   }
   iterator begin();
   iterator end();
private:
   ?? locks;
};

struct door {
   virtual ~door() {}
   bool open() {
     if (lock()->engaged()) return false;
     state = OPEN;
     return true;
   }
   lock* lock();

private:
   lock my_lock;
   door_state state;
};

Use code:

void go_through_door(door & entry) {
   entry.lock()->unlock();
   entry.open();
   // go through...
}

Looks pretty darn simple to me. Compared to:

// may be a few lines of code smaller...but not much.
struct door { ... };
struct lockable { .... };
struct lockable_door : door, lockable { ... };

// but you pay for it here...
void go_through_door(door & entry) {
   if (auto lock = dynamic_cast<lockable*>(&entry))
     lock->unlock();
   entry.open();
};


In general yes one should prefer composition over inheritance but the
proper way to do it using inheritance is really quite simple:

struct door : lockable
{
    bool open()
    {
        if (!unlock())
            return false;
    }
    virtual bool unlock()
    {
        /* ordinary doors have no locks */
        return true;
    }
};

struct external_door : door
{
    virtual bool unlock()
    {
        /* external doors have a lock */
        return lock.unlock();
    }
private:
    single_lock lock;
};

void go_through_door(door& entry)
{
    if (!entry.open())
    {
        /* handle failure to open door */
    }
}

/Leigh

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