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From: shirley@m.cs.uiuc.edu
Newsgroups: comp.lang.c++
Subject: Reuseable data structures?
Message-ID: <4800034@m.cs.uiuc.edu>
Date: 1 Sep 88 03:07:00 GMT
Lines: 38
Nf-ID: #N:m.cs.uiuc.edu:4800034:000:1116
Nf-From: m.cs.uiuc.edu!shirley    Aug 31 22:07:00 1988




I have a simple question that may or may not have a simple answer.  If I
want to write code for a certain data structure, say a linked list, and
I want to use it for all classes, can C++ handle this gracefully?

For example, suppose I define a base class "thing", and classes "list" and
"list_node" (probably subclasses of "thing") that define the linked list
ADT for things.  Each list node contains a pointer to thing.  Now I define
a subclass of thing "integer" that has an access function "void set_value()".
I want code that is the equiv. of

       list int_list;
       integer i, j;

       i.set_value(7);
       int_list.add(i);
       j = int_list.first();
       j.print();

       
I want to be able to do this using the 'thing-list', and I want to use
it on all sorts of very different subclasses of thing.  How about it?


Sorry if this is too simple a question.  I am new to C++ and my only
other language is vax-assembler.


THANKS!

Peter Shirley
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

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