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From: weh@dryer.ATT.COM (XGPB30000-HopkinsWE(DR9274)237)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.c++
Subject: Re: Whats wrong with this picture (or am I slow?)
Message-ID: <6339@drutx.ATT.COM>
Date: 12 Oct 90 15:46:04 GMT
References: <90284.103929EACONS@MTUS5.BITNET>
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From article <90284.103929EACONS@MTUS5.BITNET>, by EACONS@MTUS5.BITNET (Ernie Anderson):
> Thanks to all who responded by email to my question.  The message I heard
> over and over was about the = operator being overloaded to take care of
> deallocating the memory.  That is what I had been thinking, but the book's
> example did not redefine it.  I'm relieved that I wasn't just being paranoid.
> I'm a little disappointed with the text, they shouldn't have done something
> as negligent as that, even for an example.  At least they could have put a
> note afterward pointing out the flaw.  Anyway, I'll shelve that one for now
> and just work with my Lippman text.  Thanks again everyone.

My original response must have been lost. You shouldn't be disappointed with
the Dewhurst and Stark book because they *did* overload operator =
in chapter 4 (section 4.2 titled ``Strings'', pg. 80, first printing).
I surmise that they did not include the overloaded = in the previous
chapter to simplify the initial presentation of a String class. The
more refined example in chapter 4 includes the use of a separate
representation class and reference counting.

It seems that to shelve a book because an example didn't do all it should
have is a bit rash. In this case, it is a matter of the authors refining
a example as they build up familiarity with the concepts. Dewhurst and
Stark's book has the nice property of giving a relatively quick and
practical introduction to the features (and the use thereof) that C++
introduced in addition to what was already part of C. Lippman's book
is a more comprehensive text, taking the reader from ground zero to
multiple inheritance and pointers to members. The details are carefully
explained and illustrated. Both are excellent books but with different
purposes.

				Bill Hopkins
				AT&T Bell Labs
				11900 N. Pecos St.
				Denver, CO 80234
				w.e.hopkins@att.com