Re: static_cast vs. reinterpret_cast

From:
Kai-Uwe Bux <jkherciueh@gmx.net>
Newsgroups:
comp.lang.c++.moderated
Date:
Thu, 27 Sep 2007 16:17:35 CST
Message-ID:
<fdh192$gpc$1@murdoch.acc.Virginia.EDU>
Damien Kick wrote:

[snip]

I'm having a hard time, though, coming up with an example where I can
get different run-time behavior from "the same cast", i.e. casting the
same expression to the same type, with the only difference being between
static_cast and reinterpret_cast.

[...]

Damien-Kicks-Computer:~/tmp dkick$ cat duff.cc
#include <iostream>
#include <ostream>

class X {
     int y_;
     int z_;
public:
     X(int y, int z) : y_(y), z_(z) { }
     operator int() const { return y_ + z_; }
};

int main()
{
     X x(13, 69);
     std::cout << static_cast<int>(x) << '\n';
#if 0
     // These two statements will not compile...
     std::cout << reinterpret_cast<int>(x) << '\n';
     std::cout << *static_cast<int*>(&x) << '\n';
#endif
     std::cout << *reinterpret_cast<int*>(&x) << '\n';
}
Damien-Kicks-Computer:~/tmp dkick$ g++ duff.cc -o duff
Damien-Kicks-Computer:~/tmp dkick$ ./duff
82
13
Damien-Kicks-Computer:~/tmp dkick$

But I can only get this example to work if I use "different casts", i.e.
something about the type or the expression has to be different.


Try:

#include <iostream>
#include <cstddef>

struct A {
   int i;
};

struct B {
   int j;
};

struct D : public A, public B {};

std::ptrdiff_t offset_diff ( void* a, void* b ) {
   return ( reinterpret_cast< std::size_t >( a ) -
            reinterpret_cast< std::size_t >( b ) );
}

int main ( void ) {
   D d;
   A* a_ptr = &d;
   B* b_ptr = &d;
   D* d_ptr = &d;
   std::cout
     << offset_diff ( static_cast<D*>( a_ptr ),
                      static_cast<D*>( d_ptr ) ) << '\n'
     << offset_diff ( static_cast<D*>( b_ptr ),
                      static_cast<D*>( d_ptr ) ) << '\n'
     << offset_diff ( reinterpret_cast<D*>( a_ptr ),
                      reinterpret_cast<D*>( d_ptr ) ) << '\n'
     << offset_diff ( reinterpret_cast<D*>( b_ptr ),
                      reinterpret_cast<D*>( d_ptr ) ) << '\n';
}

On my machine:
0
0
0
4

Best

Kai-Uwe Bux

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