doc/named-param.dox
author alpar
Thu, 28 Jul 2005 19:04:43 +0000
changeset 1603 5ad84fbadf2b
parent 1438 826bdac3525a
child 1619 f0700b9e6418
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More docs
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/*!
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\page named-param Named Parameters
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\section named-func-param Named "Function" Parameters
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C++ makes it possible to use default parameter values when calling a
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function. In such a case we do not have to give value for parameters,
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the program will use the default ones.  Unfortunately sometimes this
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is not enough. If we do not want to give values for all the
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parameters, only for some of them we come across problems, because an
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arbitrary set of parameters cannot be omitted. On the other hand
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parameters have a fixed order in the head of the function.  C++ can
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apply the default values only in the back of the order, if we do not
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give other value for them.  So we can not give the function for
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example the value of the first, and the third parameter, expecting
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that the program will aplly the default value for the second
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parameter.  However sometimes we would like to use some functinos
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exactly in this way. With a crafty trick and with some little
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inconvenience this is possible. We have implemented this little trick
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as an example below.
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\code
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class named_fn 
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{
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  int _id;
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  double _val;
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  int _dim;
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  public:
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  named_fn() : _id(0), _val(1), _dim(2) {}
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  named_fn& id(int p)     { _id  = p ; return *this; }
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  named_fn& val(double p) { _val = p ; return *this; }
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  named_fn& dim(int p)    { _dim = p ; return *this; }
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  run() {
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    printf("Here is the function itself.");
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  }
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};
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\endcode
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The usage is the following.
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We have to define a class, let's call it named_fn.  Let us assume that
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we would like to use a parameter, called X. In the named_fn class we
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have to define an _X attribute, and an X function. The function
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expects a parameter with the type of _X, and sets the value of
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_X. After setting the value the function returns the class itself. The
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class also have to have a function, called for example run(), we have
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to implement here the original function itself. The constructor of the
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class have to give all the attributes like _X the default values of
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them.
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If we instantiate this class, the default values will be set for the
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attributes (originally the parameters), initially. If we call the X
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function, we get a class with the modified parameter value of
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X. Therefore we can modify any parameter-value, independent from the
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order. To run the algorithm we have to call the run() function at the
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end of the row.
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Example: named_fn().id(3).val(2).run();
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\section traits-classes Traits Classes
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The procedure above can also be applied when defining classes. In this
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case the type of the attributes can be changed.  Initially we have to
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define a class with the default attribute types. This is the so called
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Traits Class. Later on the types of these attributes can be changed,
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as described below. In our software \ref lemon::DijkstraDefaultTraits is an
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example of how a traits class looks like.
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\section named-templ-param Named Class Template Parameters
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If we would like to change the type of an attribute in a class that
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was instantiated by using a traits class as a template parameter, and
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the class contains named parameters, we do not have to reinstantiate
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the class with new traits class. Instead of that, adaptor classes can
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be used like in the following cases.
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\code
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Dijkstra<>::SetPredNodeMap<NullMap<Node,Node> >
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\endcode
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It can also be used in conjunction with other named template
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parameters in arbitrary order.
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\code
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Dijkstra<>::SetDistMap<MyMap>::SetPredMap<NullMap<Node,Edge> >
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\endcode
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The result will be an instantiated Dijkstra class, in which the
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DistMap and the PredMap is modified.
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\section named-templ-func-param Named "Function" Template Parameters
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If the class has so called wizard functions, the new class with the
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modified tpye of attributes can be returned by the appropriate wizard
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function. The usage of these wizard functions is the following:
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*/