Now that you’ve learned some basics about programs, let’s look more closely at how to design a program. When you sit down to write a program, generally you have some kind of idea, which you’d like to write a program for. New programmers often have trouble figuring out how to …
In the previous lesson , we introduced the concept of random number generation, and discussed how PRNG algorithms are typically used to simulate randomness in programs. In this lesson, we’ll take a look at how to generate random numbers in your programs. To access any of the randomization capabilities in …
As with almost everything that has benefits, there are some potential downsides to exceptions as well. This article is not meant to be comprehensive, but just to point out some of the major issues that should be considered when using exceptions (or deciding whether to use them). Cleaning up resources …
Exceptions and member functions Up to this point in the tutorial, you’ve only seen exceptions used in non-member functions. However, exceptions are equally useful in member functions, and even more so in overloaded operators. Consider the following overloaded [] operator as part of a simple integer array class: int& IntArray::operator[](const …
By now, you should have a reasonable idea of how exceptions work. In this lesson, we’ll cover a few more interesting exception cases. Uncaught exceptions In the past few examples, there are quite a few cases where a function assumes its caller (or another function somewhere up the call stack) …
In the previous lesson on , we explained how throw, try, and catch work together to enable exception handling. In this lesson, we’ll talk about how exception handling interacts with functions. Throwing exceptions outside of a try block In the examples in the previous lesson, the throw statements were placed …
In the previous lesson on the need for exceptions, we talked about how using return codes causes your control flow and error flow to be intermingled, constraining both. Exceptions in C++ are implemented using three keywords that work in conjunction with each other: throw, try, and catch. Throwing exceptions We …
In the previous lesson on handling errors, we talked about ways to use assert(), cerr(), and exit() to handle errors. However, we punted on one further topic that we will now cover: exceptions. When return codes fail When writing reusable code, error handling is a necessity. One of the most …
This lesson and the next are optional reading for those desiring a deeper knowledge of C++ templates. Partial template specialization is not used all that often (but can be useful in specific cases). In lesson , you learned how expression parameters could be used to parameterize template classes. Let’s take …
In the previous lesson , we saw how it was possible to specialize functions in order to provide different functionality for specific data types. As it turns out, it is not only possible to specialize functions, it is also possible to specialize an entire class! Consider the case where you …
