Re: Heap overflow/corruption problem in an arbitrary precision class

From:
Kai-Uwe Bux <jkherciueh@gmx.net>
Newsgroups:
comp.lang.c++
Date:
Fri, 13 Jun 2008 12:20:51 -0400
Message-ID:
<g2u6p4$22u$1@aioe.org>
Martin the Third wrote:

On Jun 12, 6:11 pm, Kai-Uwe Bux <jkherci...@gmx.net> wrote:

Martin the Third wrote:

Hi, I need some help!

I'm writing an infinite-precision floating point library called
ipfloat (I know infinite is a misnomer - but arbitrary was taken). A
quick overview: I'm storing numbers as a char* mantissa, an int
exponent and a sign. For example, the number "123.45" would have a
mantissa of 12345, an exponent of 2, and a sign of +. I'm essentially
storing it as "1.2345x10^2".

The mantissa is allocated dynamically at runtime to allow arbitrary
precision in my numbers. I'm having trouble with heap overflows; let
me explain in more detail:

[snip]

Thank you! I'll gladly post code if it will help.


Since my crystal ball is in repair, code would be highly appreciated.

Short of that, consider using std::vector< char > instead of char*. Very
likely, your problems stem from mistakes in pointer handling (allocation,
deallocation, _and_ reallocation).

Best

Kai-Uwe Bux


Here are the relevant functions. Keep in mind that I stopped my +
function halfway through, so it doesn't actually add yet. (I have
older versions that do...)


Ok. Here are some comments on the code. Since you did not post a complete
example, I test whether they address the problem you are experiencing.

ipfloat::ipfloat(char* ch)
{
    int len = strlen(ch);
    int i = 0, j = 0; //i keeps place in ch, j keeps
place in man
    sign = (ch[0]=='-')?'-':'+'; //assign the sign
    int startZeros = 0, trailZeros = 0, manLen, decPos, decOffset;
    while(ch[i]!='\0' && ch[i]!='.') //loop until we find the decimal,
whether explicitly typed or not
        i++;
    decPos = i;
    i=0;
    while(ch[i]=='0' || ch[i]=='.') //count number of 0's at the
beginning of the number
    {
        startZeros++; //this now contains 1 more than sz
if theres a dec
        i++;
    }
    i=0;
    while(ch[len-1-i]=='0') //count the number of trailing 0's
    {
        trailZeros++;
        i++;
    }
    manLen = len - startZeros - trailZeros - 1;
    man = (char*)malloc(sizeof(char)*(manLen+1));
    for(i=startZeros; i<(startZeros+manLen+1); i++, j++) //copy
correct data from ch to man
    {
        if(ch[i]!='.')
            man[j] = ch[i];
        else
            j--;
    }
    man[j] = '\0';
    decOffset = (startZeros>=decPos)?0:1; //combine this with
statement below? remove variable?
    exp = decPos - startZeros - decOffset;
}
ipfloat::ipfloat(const ipfloat &rhs){
if(this!=&rhs)


Within a copy-constructor, this test can never yield true (unless you
explicitly invoke the copy constructor with placement new re-constructing
an element from itself, which might formally be undefined behavior anyway).

{
    setMan(rhs.getMan());


It looks as though setMan frees the pointer member man, which is not yet
initialized in this constructor. You might be freeing memory that you don't
own. Try:

  man=0;
  setMan( rhs.getMan() );

or put "man()" in the initializer list.

You might want to run your program in valgrind to find where you use
un-initialized variables.

    setExp(rhs.getExp());
    setSign(rhs.getSign());
}
}
ipfloat::ipfloat(int size, char sgn)
{
man = (char*)malloc(sizeof(char)*size);
sign = sgn;
}
ipfloat::~ipfloat(){
   free(man);
}
inline const char* const ipfloat::getMan() const{return man;}
inline const int ipfloat::getExp() const{return exp;}
inline const char ipfloat::getSign() const{return sign;}
inline void ipfloat::setManSize(int size)
{
    free(man);
    man = (char*)malloc(sizeof(char)*(size));


sizeof(char) is guaranteed to be 1 by the standard.

}
inline void ipfloat::setManChar(int pos, char ch)
{
    man[pos] = ch;
}
inline void ipfloat::setMan(const char* const ch){
    free(man);
    man = (char*)malloc(sizeof(char)*(strlen(ch)+1));
    strcpy(man, ch);
}
inline void ipfloat::setExp(int e){
    exp = e;
}
inline void ipfloat::setSign(char ch){
    sign = ch;
}
ipfloat &ipfloat::operator =(const ipfloat &rhs){
    if(this!=&rhs)
    {
        setMan(rhs.getMan());
        setExp(rhs.getExp());
        setSign(rhs.getSign());
    }
    return *this;
}
ipfloat ipfloat::operator +(const ipfloat &rhs)
{
    int ctr, c, d;
    int thisBefore, thisAfter, rhsBefore, rhsAfter, resLen;
    thisBefore = (getExp()>=0) ? getExp() + 1 : 1;
    thisAfter = (strlen(getMan())<=getExp()) ? abs((int)
(strlen(getMan()) + getExp() - thisBefore)) : strlen(getMan()) -
getExp() - 1;
    rhsBefore = (rhs.getExp()>=0) ? rhs.getExp() + 1 : 1;
    rhsAfter = (strlen(rhs.getMan())<=rhs.getExp()) ? abs((int)
(strlen(rhs.getMan()) + rhs.getExp() - thisBefore)) :
strlen(rhs.getMan()) - rhs.getExp() - 1;
    resLen = ((thisBefore>=rhsBefore)?thisBefore:rhsBefore)+
((thisAfter>=rhsAfter)?thisAfter:rhsAfter);
    ipfloat result(resLen + 1, rhs.getSign());
result.setManChar(resLen, '\0');
    for(int i=0; i<resLen; i++)
        result.setManChar(i,'0');
    cout<<result.getMan()<<endl;
    if(thisBefore>rhsBefore)
    {
        for(ctr = 0; ctr<(thisBefore-rhsBefore); ctr++)
            result.setManChar(ctr, getMan()[ctr]);
    }
    if(rhsBefore>thisBefore)
    {
        for(ctr = 0; ctr<(rhsBefore-thisBefore); ctr++)
            result.setManChar(ctr, rhs.getMan()[ctr]);
    }
    if(thisAfter>rhsAfter)
    {
        c=((thisBefore>=rhsBefore)?thisBefore:rhsBefore) + rhsAfter; //
tracks result
d=strlen(getMan())-(thisAfter-
rhsAfter); //tracks this
while(getMan()[d]!='\0')
{
            result.setManChar(c, getMan()[d]);
c++;
d++;
}
    }
    if(rhsAfter>thisAfter)
    {
        c=((rhsBefore>=thisBefore)?rhsBefore:thisBefore) +
thisAfter; //tracks result
d=strlen(rhs.getMan())-(rhsAfter-
thisAfter); //tracks this
while(rhs.getMan()[d]!='\0')
{
            result.setManChar(c, rhs.getMan()[d]);
c++;
d++;
}
    }
    cout<<result.getMan()<<endl;
return result;
}


[snip]

Hope this helps

Kai-Uwe Bux

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