Pointer to Pointer or not?

[nifsmith]

Hi

I am creating my own Queue class to learn about Queues and pointers.

I have come across a question of two styles and I don't know if there
are any dangers associated with them.

I coded my remove function as follows

template <class T>
bool adsQ<T>::Remove (T* theData)
{
Qnode<T>* removeNode = 0;

if (true == isEmpty())
{
//cout << "False" << endl;
return false;
}
else
{
/* What I am trying to achive here is to change the data pointed to
by theData to the data pointed to by pData.*/

*theData =*(pHead->pData); //Data exchanged

removeNode = pHead;

if (count == 1)
{
pHead = 0; //Pointers to Null
pTail = 0;
}
else
{
pHead = pHead->nextQnode;
}

count--;

/*I then free up the memory which contained the pHead, pData.
Knowing that *theData now contains the same data as pData did*/

delete removeNode;

removeNode = 0; //Make pointer safe

//cout << "True" << endl;
return true;
}
}

I then read about pointers to pointers and amended my function signature

template <class T>
bool adsQ<T>::Remove (T** theData) ...

and the line where the data is exchanged.

*theData = pHead->pData;

And called the function thus

pQ->Remove(&pD);

I now appear to get the same results from both, the returning of the
data contained in the pointer pData outwith the function.

However in changing the function to take a pointer to pointer am I
storing up trouble for myself in that as the free space pointed to by
pData is now pointed at by pD outwith the function (is this right?) and
also pData within the function, can I now delete it within the function
(through removeNode) safely or is this trouble as I appear to be
deleting memory pointed at by two pointers.

TYIA

nifsmith

[Jari Kalevi Savolainen]

Re: Pointer to Pointer or not?

On Sun, 3 Oct 2004, nifsmith wrote:
[color=blue]
> Hi
>
> I am creating my own Queue class to learn about Queues and pointers.
>
> I have come across a question of two styles and I don't know if there
> are any dangers associated with them.
>
> I coded my remove function as follows
>
> template <class T>
> bool adsQ<T>::Remove (T* theData)
> {
> Qnode<T>* removeNode = 0;
>
> if (true == isEmpty())
> {
> //cout << "False" << endl;
> return false;
> }
> else
> {
> /* What I am trying to achive here is to change the data pointed to
> by theData to the data pointed to by pData.*/
>
> *theData =*(pHead->pData); //Data exchanged
>
> removeNode = pHead;
>
> if (count == 1)
> {
> pHead = 0; //Pointers to Null
> pTail = 0;
> }
> else
> {
> pHead = pHead->nextQnode;
> }
>
> count--;
>
> /*I then free up the memory which contained the pHead, pData.
> Knowing that *theData now contains the same data as pData did*/
>
> delete removeNode;
>
> removeNode = 0; //Make pointer safe
>
> //cout << "True" << endl;
> return true;
> }
> }
>
> I then read about pointers to pointers and amended my function signature
>
> template <class T>
> bool adsQ<T>::Remove (T** theData) ...
>
> and the line where the data is exchanged.
>
> *theData = pHead->pData;
>
> And called the function thus
>
> pQ->Remove(&pD);
>
> I now appear to get the same results from both, the returning of the
> data contained in the pointer pData outwith the function.
>
> However in changing the function to take a pointer to pointer am I
> storing up trouble for myself in that as the free space pointed to by
> pData is now pointed at by pD outwith the function (is this right?) and
> also pData within the function, can I now delete it within the function
> (through removeNode) safely or is this trouble as I appear to be
> deleting memory pointed at by two pointers.
>
> TYIA
>
> nifsmith
>[/color]

In the first aproach you are dereferreing the pointer and assignin to
instance it points. It'll call assign operator of type it points to. So
mem will be copied and you can delete original 'safely'.

In second version done by pointers to pointers only the address of
instance is assigned. Deleting original now would result in a pointer to
free mem.

I hope I'm making sense to you.

[John Harrison]

Re: Pointer to Pointer or not?


"nifsmith" <hawklord451@ly cos.co.uk> wrote in message
news:cjodqs$npq $1@titan.btinte rnet.com...[color=blue]
> Hi
>
> I am creating my own Queue class to learn about Queues and pointers.
>
> I have come across a question of two styles and I don't know if there are
> any dangers associated with them.
>
> I coded my remove function as follows
>
> template <class T>
> bool adsQ<T>::Remove (T* theData)
> {
> Qnode<T>* removeNode = 0;
>
> if (true == isEmpty())
> {
> //cout << "False" << endl;
> return false;
> }
> else
> {
> /* What I am trying to achive here is to change the data pointed to by
> theData to the data pointed to by pData.*/
>
> *theData =*(pHead->pData); //Data exchanged
>
> removeNode = pHead;
>
> if (count == 1)
> {
> pHead = 0; //Pointers to Null
> pTail = 0;
> }
> else
> {
> pHead = pHead->nextQnode;
> }
>
> count--;
>
> /*I then free up the memory which contained the pHead, pData. Knowing that
> *theData now contains the same data as pData did*/
>
> delete removeNode;
>
> removeNode = 0; //Make pointer safe
>
> //cout << "True" << endl;
> return true;
> }
> }
>
> I then read about pointers to pointers and amended my function signature
>
> template <class T>
> bool adsQ<T>::Remove (T** theData) ...
>
> and the line where the data is exchanged.
>
> *theData = pHead->pData;
>
> And called the function thus
>
> pQ->Remove(&pD);
>
> I now appear to get the same results from both, the returning of the data
> contained in the pointer pData outwith the function.
>
> However in changing the function to take a pointer to pointer am I storing
> up trouble for myself in that as the free space pointed to by pData is now
> pointed at by pD outwith the function (is this right?) and also pData
> within the function, can I now delete it within the function (through
> removeNode) safely or is this trouble as I appear to be deleting memory
> pointed at by two pointers.
>[/color]

You are getting into trouble with your pointer to pointer method. You are
deleting memory in your Remove function which is still accessible from
outside your Remove function. This is likely to crash your program.

This is a design issue, and the issue is, who owns the pointers. If you
consider that the queue owns the pointers then it should delete them and you
should go back to your original method. Alternatively you could say that the
program using the queue owns the pointers, in this case you can use your
pointer to pointer method, but then the queue should not delete the memory,
that would now be the calling programs responsibility.

You don't say how the memory is allocated originally, is that done in the
queue class, or outside the queue class, but I would guess that the
allocation is being done in the queue (anything else would be poor design).
In that case it seems natural for the queue to own the pointers and do the
deallocation itself. That way the user of the queue doesn't have to worry
about memory allocation at all, which make the queue easier to use.

So, in short, I would say that you should go back to your original idea.

john