Re: Mutable objects for std::set
Hi,
On Nov 23, 5:10 pm, Kaba <k...@nowhere.com> wrote:
Hi,
Let f be a function (in the mathematical sense) mapping objects of type
Type to a totally ordered set (for simplicity), called keys. By this
ordering, std::set is able to organize data of type Type in an efficient
way to enable fast associative searching, insertion and removal (e.g. by
a red-black tree). An essential requirement for this to be possible is
that the key associated to each object remains unchanged when stored in
std::set. Otherwise invariants of underlying data structures could be
easily broken (e.g. binary search property of a red-black tree).
As a principle of programming, if there is ever an invariant, then that
invariant must be checked automatically by the compiler, or by the
library at runtime (function preconditions, assertions). There are
exceptions, of course, when other priorities conflict, such as
performance or memory use (e.g. checking if iterators are part of the
same container).
As a good example of programming, the std::set enforces the invariant of
unchanging keys, by making all external references to its objects const.
This makes sure that changing a key does not happen by accident. On the
other hand, this decision conflicts with genericity. I often find myself
dealing with objects whose state can, and should, be freely changed
without affecting their associated key. There are several hacks that can
be used to work around this problem:
1) The first hack is to use the mutable keyword in the Type's member
variables. However, this would be incorrect when the member variable is
part of the logical state of the object (compared to just physical
state, which can include additional cache variables).
2) The second hack is to use const_cast for the object to gain access to
modifying its state. This is more correct. However, const_cast exists
only to correct for the mistakes done in the past (and for some tricks
to avoid code replication in const/non-const pair of member functions).
3) The third hack is to change to use std::map instead, by separating
the key to its own object, and then associating it with the rest of the
object. However, this is not always sufficient. The problem is that now
the key is not accessible from the value object. Where this is a
problem, the key must be duplicated to the value type. Interestingly,
the key in the value object is now in danger of being modified different
to the key in the key object.
I can imagine the 4th hack - more elegant, generic and no intrusive
(in my opinion ;).
Assuming that you have object with the key that is not changeable -
like this:
class myobject {
public:
myobject(int key, int value) : itsKey(key), itsValue(value) {}
int key() const { return itsKey; }
void setValue(int value) { itsValue = value; }
int value() const { return itsValue; }
private:
int itsKey;
int itsValue;
};
class myobject_compare_bykey : public std::binary_function<myobject ,
myobject, bool> {
public:
bool operator()(const myobject& l, const myobject& r) const
{
return l.key() < r.key();
}
};
And I understand that your issue here is that in std::set<myobject,
myobject_compare_bykey> you cannot call myobject::setValue - even if
changing this value would not impact the set of "myobject".
My 4th approach would be creating template like this one:
template <class _Key, class _Compare = std::less<_Key> >
class MutableKey {
public:
MutableKey (const _Key& key) : itsKey(key) {}
_Key& key() const { return itsKey; }
private:
mutable _Key itsKey;
_Compare itsCompare;
friend bool operator < (const MutableKey & l, const MutableKey & r)
{
return l.itsCompare(l.itsKey, r.itsKey);
}
};
With this template you are free to use myobject::setValue :
std::set<MutableKey <myobject, myobject_compare_bykey> > myobjectset;
myobjectset.insert(myobject(1, 101));
myobjectset.begin()->key().setValue(107); // no compilator
complaining
Full example here: http://www.ideone.com/c405Q
Regards,
PiotrN
--
[ See http://www.gotw.ca/resources/clcm.htm for info about ]
[ comp.lang.c++.moderated. First time posters: Do this! ]