Re: how to pass vector<char> as parameter?

From:
David Wilkinson <no-reply@effisols.com>
Newsgroups:
microsoft.public.vc.language
Date:
Tue, 07 Aug 2007 09:03:21 -0400
Message-ID:
<#PeWGNP2HHA.3640@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl>
Jack wrote:

I am working on a file parser.

void process_file(std::string filename)
{
 //FILE *afile;
 char c;

 ifstream infile(filename.c_str ());

 //if ((afile = fopen (filename, "rt")) == NULL)
 //{
 // exit(0);
 //}
 if(!infile)
 {
  cerr<<"Can't open file " << filename << endl;
  exit(-1);
 }

 //fileData = (char *) malloc (50000);
// memset (fileData, 0, sizeof(fileData));
// fread (fileData, sizeof(char), sizeof(fileData), afile);
 while (infile >> c)
 {
  fileData.push_back(c);
 }

 printf ("Parsing %s\n", filename.c_str());
    parse (fileData, fileData.size());
}

void parse (vector<char> buf, long count)
{
 int i,j;
 char *tokens[256];
 long cnt = 0; // count for number of tokens
 char c;
 bool ignore = false;
 int k = 0;

 char buff[256];
 PCSTR buf2 = &buf[0];
// char p;
 std::string buf3;
// static long token_count = 0;

 for (;;) {
  memset (buff, 0, 256);
  trim (buf2);
  is_comment(buf2[0], buf2[1]);
  if (one_line_comment)
  {
   while (*buf2 != '\n') <<<<<<<<<<<< when I took a view at buf2, all \n
disappeared
    buf2++;
   buf2++; // Skip tail \n


Jack:

1. This is happening because you use >> operator. It does not have to do
with std::vector. Use std::istream::get() like this:

while (infile.get(c))
{
   //
}

2. How does this code compile?

PCSTR buf2 = &buf[0];
trim (buf2);

Isn't the trim function modifying buf2 here? Don't you need non-constant
buffer:

char* buf2 = &buf[0];

3. You don't need to pass the size of the vector, because std::vector
knows its own size.

4. You code will not work because you are passing fileData by value. You
must pass it by reference;

void parse (vector<char>& buf, long count)
{
}

5. It is almost always best to pass standard library objects by
reference even when it is not necessary. If the object is not modified
then pass by const reference:

void process_file(const std::string& filename)
{
}

6. What is "one_line_comment? It would seem to be a global variable. It
is almost always wrong to use global variables in C++. Why not just

if(is_comment(buf2)
{

}

7. I would recommend you read a good introductory book on modern C++,
one that emphasizes (correct) usage of the standard library. You have a
lot of bad programming habits.

--
David Wilkinson
Visual C++ MVP

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