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| -rw-r--r-- | c++.html.markdown | 130 |
1 files changed, 129 insertions, 1 deletions
diff --git a/c++.html.markdown b/c++.html.markdown index 4a070d95..dbca751f 100644 --- a/c++.html.markdown +++ b/c++.html.markdown @@ -263,7 +263,7 @@ public: // Along with constructors, C++ provides destructors. // These are called when an object is deleted or falls out of scope. // This enables powerful paradigms such as RAII - // (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resource_Acquisition_Is_Initialization) + // (see below) // Destructors must be virtual to allow classes to be derived from this one. virtual ~Dog(); @@ -427,6 +427,134 @@ catch (const std::exception& ex) std::cout << "Unknown exception caught"; throw; // Re-throws the exception } + +/////// +// RAII +/////// + +// RAII stands for Resource Allocation Is Initialization. +// It is often considered the most powerful paradigm in C++, +// and is the simple concept that a constructor for an object +// acquires that object's resources and the destructor releases them. + +// To understand how this is useful, +// consider a function that uses a C file handle: +void doSomethingWithAFile(const char* filename) +{ + // To begin with, assume nothing can fail. + + FILE* fh = fopen(filename, "r"); // Open the file in read mode. + + doSomethingWithTheFile(fh); + doSomethingElseWithIt(fh); + + fclose(fh); // Close the file handle. +} + +// Unfortunately, things are quickly complicated by error handling. +// Suppose fopen can fail, and that doSomethingWithTheFile and +// doSomethingElseWithIt return error codes if they fail. +// (Exceptions are the preferred way of handling failure, +// but some programmers, especially those with a C background, +// disagree on the utility of exceptions). +// We now have to check each call for failure and close the file handle +// if a problem occurred. +bool doSomethingWithAFile(const char* filename) +{ + FILE* fh = fopen(filename, "r"); // Open the file in read mode + if (fh == nullptr) // The returned pointer is null on failure. + reuturn false; // Report that failure to the caller. + + // Assume each function returns false if it failed + if (!doSomethingWithTheFile(fh)) { + fclose(fh); // Close the file handle so it doesn't leak. + return false; // Propagate the error. + } + if (!doSomethingElseWithIt(fh)) { + fclose(fh); // Close the file handle so it doesn't leak. + return false; // Propagate the error. + } + + fclose(fh); // Close the file handle so it doesn't leak. + return true; // Indicate success +} + +// C programmers often clean this up a little bit using goto: +bool doSomethingWithAFile(const char* filename) +{ + FILE* fh = fopen(filename, "r"); + if (fh == nullptr) + reuturn false; + + if (!doSomethingWithTheFile(fh)) + goto failure; + + if (!doSomethingElseWithIt(fh)) + goto failure; + + fclose(fh); // Close the file + return true; // Indicate success + +failure: + fclose(fh); + return false; // Propagate the error +} + +// If the functions indicate errors using exceptions, +// things are a little cleaner, but still sub-optimal. +void doSomethingWithAFile(const char* filename) +{ + FILE* fh = fopen(filename, "r"); // Open the file in read mode + if (fh == nullptr) + throw std::exception("Could not open the file."); + + try { + doSomethingWithTheFile(fh); + doSomethingElseWithIt(fh); + } + catch (...) { + fclose(fh); // Be sure to close the file if an error occurs. + throw; // Then re-throw the exception. + } + + fclose(fh); // Close the file + // Everything succeeded +} + +// Compare this to the use of C++'s file stream class (fstream) +// fstream uses its destructor to close the file. +// Recall from above that destructors are automatically called +// whenver an object falls out of scope. +void doSomethingWithAFile(const std::string& filename) +{ + // ifstream is short for input file stream + std::ifstream fh(filename); // Open the file + + // Do things with the file + doSomethingWithTheFile(fh); + doSomethingElseWithIt(fh); + +} // The file is automatically closed here by the destructor + +// This has _massive_ advantages: +// 1. No matter what happens, +// the resource (in this case the file handle) will be cleaned up. +// Once you write the destructor correctly, +// It is _impossible_ to forget to close the handle and leak the resource. +// 2. Note that the code is much cleaner. +// The destructor handles closing the file behind the scenes +// without you having to worry about it. +// 3. The code is exception safe. +// An exception can be thrown anywhere in the function and cleanup +// will still occur. + +// All idiomatic C++ code uses RAII extensively for all resources. +// Additional examples include +// - Memory using unique_ptr and shared_ptr +// - Containers - the standard library linked list, +// vector (i.e. self-resizing array), hash maps, and so on +// all automatically destroy their contents when they fall out of scope. +// - Mutexes using lock_guard and unique_lock ``` Futher Reading: |