Understanding Classes and Objects in C++

Delve into the world of classes and objects in C++, exploring access modifiers, types of methods, constructors, and more. Learn about the importance of encapsulation and access specifiers to enhance the security and functionality of your code.

• C++
• Classes
• Objects
• Encapsulation
• Constructors

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1. CMSC202 Computer Science II for Majors Lecture 07 Classes and Objects (Continued) Dr. Katherine Gibson www.umbc.edu Based on slides by Chris Marron at UMBC

2. Last Class We Covered Object Oriented Programming Versus Procedural Programming Classes Members Member variables Member functions (class methods) Livecoding: Rectangle class 2 www.umbc.edu

3. Any Questions from Last Time? www.umbc.edu

4. Todays Objectives To understand more about classes in C++ Learn the uses for access modifiers Discuss more types of methods Accessors Mutators Facilitators Constructors Overloading class methods 4 www.umbc.edu

5. Class Access Specifiers www.umbc.edu

6. Access Specifiers In our definition for the DayOfYear class, everything was public This is not good practice! Why? Encapsulation! We don t want the end user to have direct access to the data Why? May set variables to invalid values 6 www.umbc.edu

7. Access Specifier Types We have three different options for access specifiers, each with their own role: public private protected Used to specify access for member variables and functions inside the class 7 www.umbc.edu

8. Toy Syntax Example class Date { public: int m_month; private: int m_day; protected: int m_year; }; 8 www.umbc.edu

9. Public Access Specifier public Anything that has access to a Date object also has access to all public member variables and functions Normally used for functions But not all functions Need to have at least one public member Why? 9 www.umbc.edu

10. Private Access Specifier private Private member variables and functions can only be accessed by member functions of the Date class Cannot be accessed in main(), in other files, or by other functions If not specified, members default to private Should specify anyway good coding practices! 10 www.umbc.edu

11. Protected Access Specifier protected Protected member variables and functions can only be accessed by: Member functions of the Date class Member functions of any derived classes (We ll cover this in detail later) 11 www.umbc.edu

12. Access Specifiers for Date Class class Date { ???????: void Output(); ???????: int m_month; int m_day; int m_year; }; 12 www.umbc.edu

13. Access Specifiers for Date Class class Date { public: void Output(); private: int m_month; int m_day; int m_year; }; 13 www.umbc.edu

14. Other Member Functions www.umbc.edu

15. New Member Functions Now that m_month, m_day, and m_year are private, how do we give them values, or retrieve those values? Write public member functions to provide indirect, controlled access for the user Remember, there is an ideal: User only knows interface (public functions) not implementation (private variables) 15 www.umbc.edu

16. Member Function Types There are many ways of classifying types, but here are the ones we ll use: Accessors ( Getters ) Mutators ( Setters ) Facilitators ( Helpers ) 16 www.umbc.edu

17. Member Function: Accessors Name starts with Get, ends with member name Allows retrieval of private data members Examples: int GetMonth(); int GetDay(); int GetYear(); Don t generally take in arguments 17 www.umbc.edu

18. Member Function: Mutators Name starts with Set, ends with member name Allows controlled changing of the value of a private data member Examples: void SetMonth(int month); void SetDay (int day); void SetYear (int year); Don t generally return anything 18 www.umbc.edu

19. Mutator for SetMonth() How would you design a good mutator for the SetMonth() member function? void Date::SetMonth(int month) { if (month >= 1 && month <= 12) { m_month = month; } else { m_month = 1; } } what s wrong with this function? 19 www.umbc.edu

20. Better Mutator for SetMonth() This version of the SetMonth() member function doesn t use magic numbers! void Date::SetMonth(int month) { if (month >= MIN_MONTH && month <= MAX_MONTH) { m_month = month; } else { m_month = DEFAULT_MONTH; } } in what file would you store these constants? 20 www.umbc.edu

21. Member Function: Facilitators Provide support for the class s operations public if generally called outside function private/protected if only called by member functions Examples: void OutputMonth(); (public) void IncrementDate(); (private) 21 www.umbc.edu

22. Date with Specifiers class Date { public: void Output (); int GetMonth(); int GetDay(); int GetYear(); void SetMonth(int month); void SetDay (int day); void SetYear (int year); private: int m_month; int m_day; int m_year; }; for the sake of brevity, we ll generally leave out the accessors and mutators when showing examples 22 www.umbc.edu

23. Constructors www.umbc.edu

24. Constructors Special methods that build (construct) an object Supply default values Initialize an object Automatically called when an object is created implicit: Date today; explicit: Date today(7, 28, 1914); 24 www.umbc.edu

25. Constructor Syntax Syntax: For prototype: ClassName(); For definition: ClassName::ClassName() { /* code */ } Notice that... There is no return type Same name as class! 25 www.umbc.edu

26. Constructor Definition Date::Date (int month, int day, int year) { m_month = month; m_day = day; m_year = year; } What is missing from this constructor? Technically, nothing -- but... Validation of the information being passed in! 26 www.umbc.edu

27. Better Constructor Definition Date::Date (int month, int day, int year) { if (m > 0 && m <= 12) { m_month = month; } else { m_month = 1; } if (d > 0 && d <= 31) { m_day = day; } else { m_day = 1; } if (y > 0 && y <= 2100) { m_year = year; } else { m_year = 1; } } is this the best way to handle this? what might be a better solution? 27 www.umbc.edu

28. Best Constructor Definition Date::Date (int month, int day, int year) { SetMonth(month); SetDay(day); SetYear(year); } This allows us to reuse already written code 28 www.umbc.edu

29. Time for LIVECODING!!! 29 www.umbc.edu

30. Livecoding Exercise Update our Rectangle class with Constructor Accessors and Mutators Class methods to: Calculate area Calculate perimeter Check if it s Square Print the rectangle s dimensions Create a main() function and use it! 30 www.umbc.edu

31. Designing a Class Ask yourself: What properties must each object have? What data-types should each of these be? Which should be private? Which should be public? What operations must each object have? What accessors, mutators, facilitators? What parameters must each of these have? Const, by-value, by-reference, default? What return value should each of these have? Const, by-value, by-reference? Which should be private? Which should be public? Rules of thumb: Data should be private (usually) Operations should be public (usually) At least 1 mutator and 1 accessor per data member (usually) 31 www.umbc.edu

32. Announcements Project 1 has been released Found on Professor s Marron website Due by 9:00 PM on February 23rd Get started on it now! Make sure to read and follow the coding standards for this course! Next time: Wrap Up and Review for Exam 1! 32 www.umbc.edu