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In the C++ programming language, the assignment operator, =, is the operator used for assignment.Like most other operators in C++, it can be overloaded.. The copy assignment operator, often just called the "assignment operator", is a special case of assignment operator where the source (right-hand side) and destination (left-hand side) are of the same class type.
The expression is evaluated in the current state of the program. The variable is assigned the computed value, replacing the prior value of that variable. Example: Assuming that a is a numeric variable, the assignment a := 2*a means that the content of the variable a is doubled after the execution of the statement. An example segment of C code:
Copy assignment operator – assign all the object's members from the corresponding members of the assignment operator's argument, calling the copy assignment operators of the object's class-type members, and doing a plain assignment of all non-class type (e.g. int or pointer) data members.
C++ objects in general behave like primitive types, so to copy a C++ object one could use the '=' (assignment) operator. There is a default assignment operator provided for all classes, but its effect may be altered through the use of operator overloading. There are dangers when using this technique (see slicing).
Copy constructor if no move constructor and move assignment operator are explicitly declared. If a destructor is declared generation of a copy constructor is deprecated (C++11, proposal N3242 [2]). Move constructor if no copy constructor, copy assignment operator, move assignment operator and destructor are explicitly declared.
In addition, swapping two variables in object-oriented languages such as C++ may involve one call to the class constructor and destructor for the temporary variable, and three calls to the copy constructor. Some classes may allocate memory in the constructor and deallocate it in the destructor, thus creating expensive calls to the system.
Additionally, due to the lack of garbage collection in C++, programs will frequently copy an object whenever the ownership and lifetime of a single shared object would be unclear. For example, inserting an object into a standard library collection (such as a std::vector) typically involves making and inserting a copy into the collection.
In the example code below, data item VERS-NUM is defined as a 2-byte binary integer containing a version number. A second data item VERS-BYTES is defined as a two-character alphanumeric variable. Since the second item is redefined over the first item, the two items share the same address in memory, and therefore share the same underlying data ...