The C++Course provides a general introduction to programming in C++. It is based on A.B. Downey's book, How to Think Like a Computer Scientist. Click here for details.

Home Member functions One Last Example
 
del.icio.us Reddit Facebook StumbleUpon MySpace Twitter

One Last Example

The final example we'll look at is addTime:

Time addTime2 (const Time& t1, const Time& t2) {
  double seconds = convertToSeconds (t1) + convertToSeconds (t2);
  return makeTime (seconds);
}

We have to make several changes to this function, including:

  1. Change the name from addTime to Time::add.
  2. Replace the first parameter with an implicit parameter, which should be declared const.
  3. Replace the use of makeTime with a constructor invocation.

Here's the result:

Time Time::add (const Time& t2) const {
  double seconds = convertToSeconds () + t2.convertToSeconds ();
  Time time (seconds);
  return time;
}

The first time we invoke convertToSeconds, there is no pparent object! Inside a member function, the compiler assumes that we want to invoke the function on the current object. Thus, the first invocation acts on this; the second invocation acts on t2.

The next line of the function invokes the constructor that takes a single double as a parameter; the last line returns the resulting object.
Home Member functions One Last Example

Last Update: 2005-12-05