Dimensional Data

The Aggregate Member Initialization is one of the features of C++. This feature is improved and modernized with C++11, C++14 and C++20. With this feature, objects can initialize an aggregate member from braced-init-list. In this post, we explain what the aggregate member initialization is and what were the changes to it in modern C++ standards. What is aggregate member initialization in modern C++? Aggregate initialization initializes aggregates. Since C++11, aggregates are a form of listed initializations. Since C++20 they are direct initializations. An aggregate could be an array or class type (a class, a struct, or a union).  Here is the general syntax,   T object = {arg1, arg2, …};   In C++11 and above, we use without = as below,   T object {arg1, arg2, …};   In C++20, there are 3 new options that we can use,   T object (arg1, arg2, …); T object = { .designator = arg1 , .designator { arg2 } … }; T object { .designator = arg1 , .designator { arg2 } … };   How to use aggregate member initialization in modern C++? C++14 provides a solution to problems in C++11 and above, for example in C++14, consider we have x, y coordinates in a struct, we can initialize them as below in a new xy object,   struct st_xy { float x, y; };   struct st_xy xy{ 3.2f, 5.1f };   In modern C++, consider that we have a struct that has a, b, c members. We initialize first two members as below,   struct st_x { short int a, b, c; };   struct st_x x{ .a = 10, .b = 20}; // x.c will be 0   We can directly initialize as below too,   struct st_y { int a = 100, b = 200, c, d; } y;   In C++17 and above, we can use this st_y as a base and we can add a new member to a new struct, then we can initialize as below,   struct st_z : st_y { int e; };   struct st_z z{ 1, 2, 3, 4, 5};   What restrictions are there for the aggregate member initialization in C++? If we consider the C++17 standard, an aggregate initialization can NOT be applied to a class type if it has one of the below, private or protected non-static data members, a constructor that is user-provided, inherited, or explicit constructors (explicitly defaulted or deleted constructors are allowed), base class or classes (virtual, private, protected), virtual member functions If we consider the C++20 standard, an aggregate initialization can NOT be applied to a class type if it has one of the below, private or protected non-static data members, user-declared or inherited constructors, base class or classes (virtual, private, protected), virtual member functions Is there a full example of aggregate member initialization in C++? Here is a full example that explains simply most used features of aggregate member initialization, 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42   #include   // Aggregate in C++14 struct st_xy { float a, b; };   struct st_xy xy{ 3.2f, 5.1f };   struct st_x { […]

Impact-Site-Verification: 9054929b-bb39-4974-9313-38176602ccee The Lambda Expression construct is introduced in C++ 11 and further developed in the C++14, C++17, and C++20 standards. C++14 standard introduced the generalized lambda capture (init capture) that allows you to specify generalized captures, it allows to use move capture in lambdas. In C++14, lambda expressions are improved by the generalized lambda (generic lambda) and by this generalized lambda captures. In this post, we explain how to use generalized lambda captures in modern C++ What is a lambda in C++? A Lambda Expression defines an anonymous function or a closure at the point where it is used. You can think of a lambda expression as an unnamed function (that’s why it’s called “anonymous”). Lambda expressions help make code cleaner, and more concise and allow you to see behavior inline where it’s defined instead of referring to an external method, like a function. Lambda Expressions are an expression that returns a function object, and they are assignable to a variable whose data type is usually auto and defines a function object. The syntax for a lambda expression consists of specific punctuation with = [ ] ( ) { … } series. If you are new to lambdas or want to know more about them, please check these two posts that we released before. How to use a generalized lambda function in C++ Before C++14, lambda function parameters need to be declared with concrete types, as in the given example above. C++14 has a new generic lambda feature that allows lambda function parameters to be declared with the auto-type specifier. The basic syntax of a Lambda Expression in C++ is; Datatype Lambda Expression = [Capture Clause] (Parameter List) -> Return Type { Body } Generalized lambdas can be defined with the auto keyword that comes with C++11. We can define a generic lambda with the auto keyword as below. auto add_things = []( auto a, auto b ) {    return a + b; }; We can use this lambda with an int type, int x = add_things( 10, 20 ); or we can use it with a float type, float f = add_things( 10.f, 20.f ); or we can use it with bool, char, double, long long double,… etc types. This is why it is called as ‘generalized‘, it is a general form that we can use with any types. Very useful and powerful. What are generalized lambda captures in C++? The Lambda Expression construct is introduced in C++ 11 and further developed in the C++14, C++17, and C++20 standards. C++14 standard introduced the generalized lambda capture (also known as init capture) that allows you to specify generalized captures. In C++14, lambda expressions are improved by the generalized lambda (generic lambda) and by this generalized lambda captures, it allows to use move capture in lambdas. A generalized capture is a new and more general capture mechanism, it allows us to specify the name of a data member in the closure class generated from the lambda, and an expression initializing that data member. Lambdas can capture expressions, rather than just variables as in functions, and this feature allows lambdas to store move-only types. How to use generalized lambda captures in C++ Let’s see how we can use generalized lambda captures in modern C++, std::move can be used to move objects in lambda captures as below, struct […]

C++11 allowed lambda functions to deduce the return type based on the type of the expression given to the return statement. The C++14 standard provides return type deduction in all functions, templates, and lambdas. C++14 allows return type deduction for functions that are not of the form return expressions. In this post, we explain the auto keyword, what is an auto type deduction, and how we can use it in functions, templates, and lambdas. Here are some very simple examples. What is the auto keyword in C++? The auto keyword arrives with the new features of the C++11 standard and above. It can be used as a placeholder type specifier (an auto-typed variable), or it can be used in a function declaration, or a structured binding declaration. The auto keyword can be used with other new CLANG standards like C++14, C++17, etc. Here is a simple example of how to use auto-typed variables in C++.   unsigned long int L;   auto a = L; // a is automatically unsigned long int   The auto keyword was being used as an automatic data specifier (storage class specifier) until C++11. This feature was removed by the C++11 standard. What is auto return type deduction in C++? In object oriented programming, type inference or deduction means the automatic detection of the data type of an expression and its conversion to a new type in a programming language and auto return type deduction may deduce return. type (i.e. float parameters to int return values). By the C++14 standard, we can use auto return type deduction in functions, templates, in lambdas. Now let’s see some simple examples that show how we can use them. If you want to use return type deduction in functions, templates, and lambdas, it must be declared with auto as the return type, but without the trailing return type specifier in C++11. The auto return type deduction feature can be used with parameter types in functions. Here is a simple example,   auto sq(int r)   // auto return type deduction in function { return r*r; }   The auto return type deduction feature can be used on modified parameters. Here is a simple example.   auto inc(int r)  // auto return type deduction in function { return ++r; }   The auto return type deduction feature can be used with references in functions.   auto& zero(int& r) // auto return type deduction in function { r = 0; return r; }   The auto return type deduction can be used with templates. Here is an example:   template auto template_sq(T t) // auto return type deduction in template { return (int)(t*t); // deduce to int }   The auto keyword is very useful in lambda declarations and it has an auto return type deduction feature too. See a simple lambda example below.   auto lambda_sq = [](int r)  // auto return type deduction in lambda { return r*r; };   Note that one of the important differences between lambdas and normal functions is that normal functions can refer to themselves by name but lambdas cannot. Is there a full example of auto return type deduction in C++? Here is a full example about auto return type deduction in functions, a template and a lambda. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 […]