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digitalmars.D.learn - Changing the class data underneath some reference

reply David Colson <david peripherallabs.com> writes:
Hello all!

I'm getting settled into D and I came into a problem. A code 
sample shows it best:

class SomeType
{
     string text;
     this(string input) {text = input;}
}


void main()
{
     SomeType foo = new SomeType("Hello");

     SomeType bar = foo;

     foo = new SomeType("World");

     writeln(bar.text); // Prints hello
     // I'd like it to print World
}

In the C++ world I could do this using pointers and changing the 
data underneath a given pointer, but I can't use pointers in D, 
so I'm not sure how I can get this behaviour?

I'd be open to other ways of achieving the same affect in D, 
using more D like methods.
Nov 29 2017
next sibling parent David Colson <david peripherallabs.com> writes:
On Thursday, 30 November 2017 at 00:40:51 UTC, David Colson wrote:
 Hello all!

 I'm getting settled into D and I came into a problem. A code 
 sample shows it best:

 class SomeType
 {
     string text;
     this(string input) {text = input;}
 }


 void main()
 {
     SomeType foo = new SomeType("Hello");

     SomeType bar = foo;

     foo = new SomeType("World");

     writeln(bar.text); // Prints hello
     // I'd like it to print World
 }

 In the C++ world I could do this using pointers and changing 
 the data underneath a given pointer, but I can't use pointers 
 in D, so I'm not sure how I can get this behaviour?

 I'd be open to other ways of achieving the same affect in D, 
 using more D like methods.
I made an example demonstrating what I'd do in C++: class SomeType { public: std::string text; SomeType(std::string input) {text = input;} }; int main() { SomeType foo = SomeType("Hello"); SomeType* bar = &foo; foo = SomeType("World"); std::cout << bar->text << "\n"; // Prints World }
Nov 29 2017
prev sibling next sibling parent reply codephantom <me noyb.com> writes:
On Thursday, 30 November 2017 at 00:40:51 UTC, David Colson wrote:
 Hello all!

 I'm getting settled into D and I came into a problem. A code 
 sample shows it best:

 class SomeType
 {
     string text;
     this(string input) {text = input;}
 }


 void main()
 {
     SomeType foo = new SomeType("Hello");

     SomeType bar = foo;

     foo = new SomeType("World");

     writeln(bar.text); // Prints hello
     // I'd like it to print World
 }

 In the C++ world I could do this using pointers and changing 
 the data underneath a given pointer, but I can't use pointers 
 in D, so I'm not sure how I can get this behaviour?

 I'd be open to other ways of achieving the same affect in D, 
 using more D like methods.
void main() { SomeType foo = new SomeType("Hello"); int * ptr; SomeType * bar; bar = &foo; foo = new SomeType("World"); writeln(bar.text); // Prints World }
Nov 29 2017
parent codephantom <me noyb.com> writes:
On Thursday, 30 November 2017 at 00:52:25 UTC, codephantom wrote:
...
sorry, don't know how the int * got in there ;-) Anyway..who said you can't use pointers in D? Just change: //SomeType bar = foo; SomeType * bar = &foo;
Nov 29 2017
prev sibling next sibling parent reply Steven Schveighoffer <schveiguy yahoo.com> writes:
On 11/29/17 7:40 PM, David Colson wrote:
 Hello all!
 
 I'm getting settled into D and I came into a problem. A code sample 
 shows it best:
 
 class SomeType
 {
      string text;
      this(string input) {text = input;}
 }
 
 
 void main()
 {
      SomeType foo = new SomeType("Hello");
 
      SomeType bar = foo;
 
      foo = new SomeType("World");
 
      writeln(bar.text); // Prints hello
      // I'd like it to print World
 }
 
 In the C++ world I could do this using pointers and changing the data 
 underneath a given pointer, but I can't use pointers in D, so I'm not 
 sure how I can get this behaviour?
 
 I'd be open to other ways of achieving the same affect in D, using more 
 D like methods.
D does not support reassigning class data using assignment operator, only the class reference. You can change the fields individually if you need to. e.g.: foo.text = "World"; structs are value types in D and will behave similar to C++ classes/structs. -Steve
Nov 29 2017
parent reply Jonathan M Davis <newsgroup.d jmdavisprog.com> writes:
On Wednesday, November 29, 2017 21:12:58 Steven Schveighoffer via 
Digitalmars-d-learn wrote:
 On 11/29/17 7:40 PM, David Colson wrote:
 Hello all!

 I'm getting settled into D and I came into a problem. A code sample
 shows it best:

 class SomeType
 {

      string text;
      this(string input) {text = input;}

 }


 void main()
 {

      SomeType foo = new SomeType("Hello");

      SomeType bar = foo;

      foo = new SomeType("World");

      writeln(bar.text); // Prints hello
      // I'd like it to print World

 }

 In the C++ world I could do this using pointers and changing the data
 underneath a given pointer, but I can't use pointers in D, so I'm not
 sure how I can get this behaviour?

 I'd be open to other ways of achieving the same affect in D, using more
 D like methods.
D does not support reassigning class data using assignment operator, only the class reference. You can change the fields individually if you need to. e.g.: foo.text = "World"; structs are value types in D and will behave similar to C++ classes/structs.
With classes, you could also assign the entire state of the object similar to what you'd get with structs and opAssign, but you'd have to write a member function to do it. There's no reason that you couldn't do the equivalent of opAssign. It's just that there's no built-in operator for it. So, whatever member function you wrote for it would be non-standard. Heck, technically, we don't even have a standard way to clone a class object like function; either way, there's nothing built-in or standard for it. - Jonathan M Davis
Nov 29 2017
parent Steven Schveighoffer <schveiguy yahoo.com> writes:
On 11/29/17 10:22 PM, Jonathan M Davis wrote:
 With classes, you could also assign the entire state of the object similar
 to what you'd get with structs and opAssign, but you'd have to write a
 member function to do it. There's no reason that you couldn't do the
 equivalent of opAssign. It's just that there's no built-in operator for it.
 So, whatever member function you wrote for it would be non-standard.
It's mostly a bad idea. The whole point of disallowing assignment is to prevent the slicing problem. It's also why opAssign isn't overloadable for classes assigning to classes in the same hierarchy. -Steve
Nov 29 2017
prev sibling parent A Guy With a Question <aguywithanquestion gmail.com> writes:
On Thursday, 30 November 2017 at 00:40:51 UTC, David Colson wrote:
 Hello all!

 I'm getting settled into D and I came into a problem. A code 
 sample shows it best:

 class SomeType
 {
     string text;
     this(string input) {text = input;}
 }


 void main()
 {
     SomeType foo = new SomeType("Hello");

     SomeType bar = foo;

     foo = new SomeType("World");

     writeln(bar.text); // Prints hello
     // I'd like it to print World
 }

 In the C++ world I could do this using pointers and changing 
 the data underneath a given pointer, but I can't use pointers 
 in D, so I'm not sure how I can get this behaviour?

 I'd be open to other ways of achieving the same affect in D, 
 using more D like methods.
You are dealing with a reference type. Reference types can be though of as a value type of an address. The new operator can be though of as giving the variable a new address. This means the foo and bar variables are not bound to the same value because their referencing different address. You need a struct. Which isn't a reference.
Nov 29 2017