Bruce Eckel's Thinking in C++, 2nd Ed Contents | Prev | Next

Specifying storage allocation

When creating a variable, you have a number of options to specify the lifetime of the variable, how the storage is allocated for that variable, and how the variable is treated by the compiler.

Global variables

Global variables are defined outside all function bodies and are available to all parts of the program (even code in other files). Global variables are unaffected by scopes and are always available (i.e., the lifetime of a global variable lasts until the program ends). If the existence of a global variable in one file is declared using the extern keyword in another file, the data is available for use by the second file. Here’s an example of the use of global variables: 

//: C03:Global.cpp
//{L} Global2
// Demonstration of global variables
#include <iostream>
using namespace std;

int globe;
void func();
int main() {
  globe = 12;
  cout << globe << endl;
  func(); // Modifies globe
  cout << globe << endl;
} ///:~

Here’s a file that accesses globe as an extern: 

//: C03:Global2.cpp {O}
// Accessing external global variables
extern int globe;  
// (The linker resolves the reference)
void func() {
  globe = 47;
} ///:~

Storage for the variable globe is created by the definition in Global.cpp, and that same variable is accessed by the code in Global2.cpp. Since the code in Global2.cpp is compiled separately from the code in Global.cpp, the compiler must be informed that the variable exists elsewhere by the declaration

extern int globe;

When you run the program, you’ll see that the call to func( ) does indeed affect the single global instance of globe.

In Global.cpp, you can see the special comment tag (which is my own design):

//{L} Global2

This says that to create the final program, the object file with the name Global2 must be linked in (there is no extension because the extension names of object files differ from one system to the next). In Global2.cpp, the first line has another special comment tag {O} which says “don’t try to create an executable out of this file, it’s being compiled so that it can be linked into some other executable.” The ExtractCode.cpp program at the end of this book reads these tags and creates the appropriate makefile so everything compiles properly (you’ll learn about makefiles at the end of this chapter).

Local variables

Local variables occur within a scope; they are “local” to a function. They are often called automatic variables because they automatically come into being when the scope is entered, and automatically go away when the scope closes. The keyword auto makes this explicit, but local variables default to auto so it is never necessary to declare something as an auto.

Register variables

A register variable is a type of local variable. The register keyword tells the compiler “make accesses to this variable as fast as possible.” Increasing the access speed is implementation dependent but, as the name suggests, it is often done by placing the variable in a register. There is no guarantee that the variable will be placed in a register or even that the access speed will increase. It is a hint to the compiler.

There are restrictions to the use of register variables. You cannot take or compute the address of a register variable. A register variable can only be declared within a block (you cannot have global or static register variables). You can, however, use a register variable as a formal argument in a function (i.e., in the argument list).

Generally, you shouldn’t try to second-guess the compiler’s optimizer, since it will probably do a better job than you can. Thus, the register keyword is best avoided.

static

The static keyword has several distinct meanings. Normally, variables defined local to a function disappear at the end of the function scope. When you call the function again, storage for the variables is created anew and the values are re-initialized. If you want a value to be extant throughout the life of a program, you can define a function’s local variable to be static and give it an initial value. The initialization is only performed the first time the function is called, and the data retains its value between function calls. This way, a function can “remember” some piece of information between function calls.

You may wonder why a global variable isn’t used instead. The beauty of a static variable is that it is unavailable outside the scope of the function, so it can’t be inadvertently changed. This localizes errors.

Here’s an example of the use of static variables: 

//: C03:Static.cpp
// Using a static variable in a function
#include <iostream>
using namespace std;

void func() {
  static int i = 0;
  cout << "i = " << ++i << endl;
}

int main() {
  for(int x = 0; x < 10; x++)
    func();
} ///:~

Each time func( ) is called in the for loop, it prints a different value. If the keyword static is not used, the value printed will always be ‘1’.

The second meaning of static is related to the first in the “unavailable outside a certain scope” sense. When static is applied to a function name or to a variable that is outside of all functions, it means “this name is unavailable outside of this file.” The function name or variable is local to the file; we say it has file scope. As a demonstration, compiling and linking the following two files will cause a linker error: 

//: C03:FileStatic.cpp
// File scope demonstration. Compiling and 
// linking this file with FileStatic2.cpp
// will cause a linker error

// File scope means only available in this file:
static int fs; 

int main() {
  fs = 1;
} ///:~

Even though the variable fs is claimed to exist as an extern in the following file, the linker won’t find it because it has been declared static in FileStatic.cpp.

//: C03:FileStatic2.cpp {O}
// Trying to reference fs
extern int fs;
void func() {
  fs = 100;
} ///:~

The static specifier may also be used inside a class. This explanation will be delayed until you learn to create classes, later in the book.

extern

The extern keyword has already been briefly described and demonstrated. It tells the compiler that a variable or a function exists, even if the compiler hasn’t yet seen it in the file currently being compiled. This variable or function may be defined in another file or further down in the current file. As an example of the latter:

//: C03:Forward.cpp
// Forward function & data declarations
#include <iostream>
using namespace std;

// This is not actually external, but the 
// compiler must be told it exists somewhere:
extern int i; 
extern void func();
int main() {
  i = 0;
  func();
}
int i; // The data definition
void func() {
  i++;
  cout << i;
} ///:~

When the compiler encounters the declaration ‘ extern int i ’ it knows that the definition for i must exist somewhere as a global variable. When the compiler reaches the definition of i, no other declaration is visible so it knows it has found the same i declared earlier in the file. If you were to define i as static, you would be telling the compiler that i is defined globally (via the extern), but it also has file scope (via the static), so the compiler will generate an error.

Linkage

To understand the behavior of C and C++ programs, you need to know about linkage. In an executing program, an identifier is represented by storage in memory that holds a variable or a compiled function body. Linkage describes this storage it is seen by the linker. There are two types of linkage: internal linkage and external linkage.

Internal linkage means that storage is created to represent the identifier only for the file being compiled. Other files may use the same identifier name with internal linkage, or for a global variable, and no conflicts will be found by the linker – separate storage is created for each identifier. Internal linkage is specified by the keyword static in C and C++.

External linkage means that a single piece of storage is created to represent the identifier for all files being compiled. The storage is created once, and the linker must resolve all other references to that storage. Global variables and function names have external linkage. These are accessed from other files by declaring them with the keyword extern. Variables defined outside all functions (with the exception of const in C++) and function definitions default to external linkage. You can specifically force them to have internal linkage using the static keyword. You can explicitly state that an identifier has external linkage by defining it with the extern keyword. Defining a variable or function with extern is not necessary in C, but it is sometimes necessary for const in C++.

Automatic (local) variables exist only temporarily, on the stack, while a function is being called. The linker doesn’t know about automatic variables, and they have no linkage.

Constants

In old (pre-Standard) C, if you wanted to make a constant, you had to use the preprocessor:

#define PI 3.14159

Everywhere you used PI, the value 3.14159 was substituted by the preprocessor (you can still use this method in C and C++).

When you use the preprocessor to create constants, you place control of those constants outside the scope of the compiler. No type checking is performed on the name PI and you can’t take the address of PI (so you can’t pass a pointer or a reference to PI). PI cannot be a variable of a user-defined type. The meaning of PI lasts from the point it is defined to the end of the file; the preprocessor doesn’t recognize scoping.

C++ introduces the concept of a named constant that is just like a variable, except its value cannot be changed. The modifier const tells the compiler that a name represents a constant. Any data type, built-in or user-defined, may be defined as const. If you define something as const and then attempt to modify it, the compiler will generate an error.

You must specify the type of a const, like this:

const int x = 10;

In Standard C and C++, you can use a named constant in an argument list, even if the argument it fills is a pointer or a reference (i.e., you can take the address of a const). A const has a scope, just like a regular variable, so you can “hide” a const inside a function and be sure that the name will not affect the rest of the program.

The const was taken from C++ and incorporated into Standard C, albeit quite differently. In C, the compiler treats a const just like a variable that has a special tag attached that says “don’t change me.” When you define a const in C, the compiler creates storage for it, so if you define more than one const with the same name in two different files (or put the definition in a header file), the linker will generate error messages about conflicts. The intended use of const in C is quite different from its intended use in C++ (in short, it’s nicer in C++).

Constant values

In C++, a const must always have an initialization value (in C, this is not true). Constant values for built-in types are expressed as decimal, octal, hexadecimal, or floating-point numbers (sadly, binary numbers were not considered important), or as characters.

In the absence of any other clues, the compiler assumes a constant value is a decimal number. The numbers 47, 0 and 1101 are all treated as decimal numbers.

A constant value with a leading 0 is treated as an octal number (base 8). Base 8 numbers can only contain digits 0-7; the compiler flags other digits as an error. A legitimate octal number is 017 (15 in base 10).

A constant value with a leading 0x is treated as a hexadecimal number (base 16). Base 16 numbers contain the digits 0-9 and a-f or A-F. A legitimate hexadecimal number is 0x1fe (510 in base 10).

Floating point numbers can contain decimal points and exponential powers (represented by e, which means “10 to the power”). Both the decimal point and the e are optional. If you assign a constant to a floating-point variable, the compiler will take the constant value and convert it to a floating-point number (this process is one form of what’s called implicit type conversion). However, it is a good idea to use either a decimal point or an e to remind the reader you are using a floating-point number; some older compilers also need the hint.

Legitimate floating-point constant values are: 1e4, 1.0001, 47.0, 0.0 and -1.159e-77. You can add suffixes to force the type of floating-point number: f or F forces a float, L or l forces a long double, otherwise the number will be a double.

Character constants are characters surrounded by single quotes, as: ‘ A’, ‘ 0’, ‘ ‘. Notice there is a big difference between the character ‘ 0’ (ASCII 96) and the value 0. Special characters are represented with the “backslash escape”: ‘ \n’ (newline), ‘ \t’ (tab), ‘ \\’ (backslash), ‘ \r’ (carriage return), ‘ \"’ (double quotes), ‘ \'’ (single quote), etc. You can also express char constants in octal: ‘ \17’ or hexadecimal: ‘ \xff’.

volatile

Whereas the qualifier const tells the compiler “this never changes” (which allows the compiler to perform extra optimizations) the qualifier volatile tells the compiler “you never know when this will change,” and prevents the compiler from performing any optimizations. Use this keyword when you read some value outside the control of your code, such as a register in a piece of communication hardware. A volatile variable is always read whenever its value is required, even if it was just read the line before.

A special case of some storage being “outside the control of your code” is in a multithreaded program. If you’re watching a particular flag that is modified by another thread or process, that flag should be volatile so the compiler doesn’t make the assumption that it can optimize away multiple reads of the flag.

Note that volatile may have no effect when a compiler is not optimizing, but may prevent critical bugs when you start optimizing the code (which is when the compiler will begin looking for reduntant reads).

The const and volatile keywords will be further illuminated in a later chapter.

Contents | Prev | Next

Contact: webmaster@codeguru.com
CodeGuru - the website for developers.
[an error occurred while processing this directive]