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Generic Programming

Generic Programming. David Rabinowitz. The problem. Assume we have a nice Stack implementation. Our stack receives only Object s The problem: We need different stacks for int , String and Method . We don’t want the problems of: Stack.add(“clearly not a method”); …

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Generic Programming

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  1. Generic Programming David Rabinowitz

  2. The problem • Assume we have a nice Stack implementation. • Our stack receives only Objects • The problem: • We need different stacks for int, String and Method. • We don’t want the problems of: Stack.add(“clearly not a method”); … Method m = (Method)stack.pop(); Object Oriented Design Course

  3. Solution (?) • Let’s create IntStack , StringStack and MethodStack. • All of them will rely on the original Stack as internal implementation. • Are there any problems? • A lot of code duplication • It’s hard to add new types Object Oriented Design Course

  4. Another problem • We want to use a swap function between two ints. void swap(int& a, int&b) { int temp = a; a = b; b = temp; } • What about swap(double&, double&) and swap(Method&, Method&) ? Object Oriented Design Course

  5. The actual solution • Generic programming. • Write the code once, and worry about the type at compile time • The code is suitable to all types • Easy to add types later • No code duplication • Demands from types Object Oriented Design Course

  6. So how do we do it? swap<Class T>(T& a, T& b) { T temp = a; a = b; b = temp; } • Looks simple? Object Oriented Design Course

  7. Uses • Containers • list • set • vector • map • Algorithms • sort • search • copy Object Oriented Design Course

  8. C++ Templates • Most famous use of generic programming • STL – Standard Template Library • Containers • vector, set, hash_map • Algorithms • for_each, swap, binary_search, min, max • Very high performance library • Compile time, Inlining, Specializations, … Object Oriented Design Course

  9. What about Java? • Until 1.5, Java had a large collection set • Set, List, Map, Iterator, and more • sort(), search(), fill(), copy(), max(), min() • The collections were not type safe • No problem to do: Map.put(“key”, “4”); Integer i = (Integer)map.get(“key” Object Oriented Design Course

  10. Java Generics • JSR 14, add in Java 1.5 (“Tiger”) • Done in the compiler only • Converts: String s = vector<String>.get(3) to: String s = (String)vector.get(3) • “Forward Compatible” with earlier JDKs • For objects only (not simple types) Object Oriented Design Course

  11. Using Java Generics List<Integer> myIntList = new LinkedList<Integer>(); myIntList.add(new Integer(0)); Integer x = myIntList.iterator().next(); Object Oriented Design Course

  12. Generic Collections public interface List<E> { void add(E x); Iterator<E> iterator(); } public interface Iterator<E> { E next(); boolean hasNext(); } Object Oriented Design Course

  13. Subtyping List<String> ls = new ArrayList<String>(); List<Object> lo = ls; lo.add(new Object()); // attempts to assign an Object // to a String! String s = ls.get(0); Object Oriented Design Course

  14. Subtyping (cont.) • Foo is subtype of Bar • Foo extends Bar • Foo implements Bar • C is a generic container C<E> • Results that C<Foo> is not subtype of C<Bar> Object Oriented Design Course

  15. Generic Algorithms (1) • How to print entire Collection? • Do we have to use Collection<Object> ? • Use wildcard void printCollection(Collection<?> c){ for (Object e : c) { System.out.println(e); } } Object Oriented Design Course

  16. Generic Algorithms (2) • What happens when we want to use a specific method? public void drawAll(List<Shape> shapes) { for (Shape s: shapes) { s.draw(this); } } • What about subtyping? • List<Circle> Object Oriented Design Course

  17. Generic Algorithms (3) • The solution public void drawAll(List<? extends Shape> shapes) {…} Object Oriented Design Course

  18. C# Generics • Were added to .NET 2.0 • Generics designed in advance • Visible to reflection, bytecode manipulation • Very similar to Java: public struct Point<T> { public T X; public T Y; } Point<int> point;point.X = 1; point.Y = 2; • More at: http://msdn.microsoft.com/ Object Oriented Design Course

  19. C++ versus Java/C# Implementation • The C++ Approach to wildcards • Use any required method/operator • The compiler verifies that all methods exist • For example, STL assumes default constructor • More flexible, yet undocumented • Weird compiler errors • Templates only compiled when instantiated Object Oriented Design Course

  20. C++ Template Instantiation • Multiple executable code segments may be compiled from one template • Stack<int>, Stack<char>, Stack<Person*> • This doesn’t happen in C#/Java • Specialization may define optimizations template<class T> class Vector {…} template<> Vector<void*> { …} template<class T> class Vector<T*> : private Vector<void*> { …} Object Oriented Design Course

  21. Summary • Generics are a required feature • Containers, Reusable algorithms • Different Approaches • C++ - Performance first, non-OO • Java – Safety first, Forward Compatible • C# - Safety first, integrate with OOP Object Oriented Design Course

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