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creating a struct in objective c - kendric - Mar 9, 2009 06:45 PM

If I want to do this:
struct Tuple2f
{
CGFloat x;
CGFloat y;
Tuple2f (CGFloat x, CGFloat y) : x (x1), y (y1) {}
};
typedef struct Tuple2f Tuple2f;
in .h file and I import it into some .m file, it complains about it. The syntax is supposedly correct, but my question is, is this considered c++ code and would my whole project have to have every m file be mm or am I doing something wrong? I can compile without the constructor so this leads me to think no. The error comes on the line with the constructor and it says syntax before Tuple2f. Even if i change it to an empty constructor its still not happy with it.


I basically want the alternative to
typedef struct Tuple3f
{
CGFloat x;
CGFloat y;
CGFloat z;
} Tuple3f;

struct Tuple3f newTuple3f(CGFloat x,CGFloat y,CGFloat z)
{
struct Tuple3f temp;
temp.x=x;
temp.y=y;
temp.z=z;
return temp;
}

So that I can do in some code:
Tuple3f temp(1,2,3);
vs Tuple3f temp=newTuple3f(1,2,3);


Any ideas?
Thanks.

Oh and P.S My c is a bit rusty. Do i need to overload = operators or will Tuple3f a=b copy the values of all fields by defualt?

creating a struct in objective c - Josh - Mar 9, 2009 07:16 PM

It's possible I'm wrong... but your code seems to be a weird mesh of C++ classes and C structs.

You either want:

Code:
typedef struct {
    CGFloat x;
    CGFloat y;
} Tuple2f;

or:

Code:
class Tuple2f {
private:
    CGFloat x;
    CGFloat y;
public:
    Tuple2f (CGFloat x1, CGFloat y1) : x (x1), y (y1) {}
};

Obviously the former is C and the latter is C++. I think you want to do some googling of structs and classes. Structs don't have methods (like the constructor you're trying to put in your Tuple2f struct). Classes do.

creating a struct in objective c - kendric - Mar 9, 2009 07:39 PM

My googling of struct functions is what made me think you can put functions in structs. Is this only true in c++? There are many examples of structs having functions, but I don't know if they were for c or c++

creating a struct in objective c - ThemsAllTook - Mar 9, 2009 07:52 PM

kendric Wrote:My googling of struct functions is what made me think you can put functions in structs. Is this only true in c++?

Yes. From my understanding, in C++, class and struct are (almost?) synonymous. You can't put functions in structs in C.

creating a struct in objective c - kendric - Mar 9, 2009 08:41 PM

Ah ok. Thanks

creating a struct in objective c - kendric - Mar 9, 2009 08:57 PM

Hey, so is this how you would suggest doing what I was wanting:
.h
Code:
typedef struct Tuple3f
{
    CGFloat x;
    CGFloat y;
    CGFloat z;
} Tuple3f;

@interface Tuple3fUtil : NSObject
{

}
+(Tuple3f) createWithX:(CGFloat)x y:(CGFloat)y z:(CGFloat)z;
@end


.m
#import "Tuple3fUtil.h"


@implementation Tuple3fUtil
+(Tuple3f) createWithX:(CGFloat)x y:(CGFloat)y z:(CGFloat)z
{
    struct Tuple3f temp;
    temp.x=x;
    temp.y=y;
    temp.z=z;
    return temp;
}
@end


creating a struct in objective c - AnotherJake - Mar 9, 2009 10:42 PM

Once Tuple3f is typedef'd don't use "struct" when declaring a variable of it, like:
Code:
struct Tuple3f temp

Just use:
Code:
Tuple3f temp

Also, I prefer to do something like:
Code:
typedef struct _Tuple3f // <-- note the underscore
{
    CGFloat x;
    CGFloat y;
    CGFloat z;
} Tuple3f;

So that later I can use it as a linked list, like:
Code:
typedef struct _Tuple3f
{
    CGFloat x;
    CGFloat y;
    CGFloat z;
    struct _Tuple3f    *nextTuple3f;
} Tuple3f;

Disclaimer: I don't remember what all the specification rules are on this; it's just the way I've done it for years.


But beyond that, what it looks like you should really do is not use a struct at all in your example. Instead, the struct members should be instance variables. Something like this instead:

Code:
@interface Tuple3fUtil : NSObject
{
    CGFloat x;
    CGFloat y;
    CGFloat z;
}
- (id)initWithX:(CGFloat)inx y:(CGFloat)iny z:(CGFloat)inz;
@end

@implementation Tuple3fUtil
- (id)initWithX:(CGFloat)inx y:(CGFloat)iny z:(CGFloat)inz
{
    if (!(self = [super init]))
        return nil;
    x=inx;
    y=iny;
    z=inz;
    return self;
}
@end


creating a struct in objective c - mpatric - Mar 10, 2009 03:34 AM

kendric Wrote:So that I can do in some code:
Tuple3f temp(1,2,3);
vs Tuple3f temp=newTuple3f(1,2,3);

My question is why do you want to do this?

Using structs rather than classes often makes good sense for performance reasons, especially if you have lots of short-lived objects. Also, if you're using OpenGL you could pass an array of your tuple structs in a batch directly to OpenGL (via glDrawArrays or glDrawElements). You couldn't do this if they were classes.

creating a struct in objective c - kendric - Mar 10, 2009 07:36 AM

My goal of this was as the last poster said, to improve performance. These objects are gonna get thrown all over the place a lot and created on the fly. So thats why I was using a struct. The reason I wanted the function was a fast way to pass a tuple as a param example
[myObj moveTo:[Tuple3fUtil newTuple:x,y,z]]; instead of having to do
Tuple3fUtil temp;
temp.x=x;
temp.y=y;
temp.z=z;
[myObj moveTo:temp];

creating a struct in objective c - SethWillits - Mar 10, 2009 12:52 PM

Then define functions to manipulate the structs, don't use Obj-C code to do it. Either make it entirely a class and go that route (I don't see why you'd need to here), or just make a struct and a bunch of functions (some likely inlined) that do what you need.

creating a struct in objective c - kendric - Mar 10, 2009 02:54 PM

The point of the class was to organize them. Otherwise ill end up with a ton of global functions. Consider i have tuple2f tuple3f vector2f vector3f etc. If i do the C functions, they all would have to be global right? Just sounds messy, maybe thats my java background talking.

creating a struct in objective c - SethWillits - Mar 10, 2009 03:15 PM

It's really not messy. Everything does not need to be in a class to be organized. You should use the right tool for the job, and here that'd be just some simple functions.

Or, use C++/Obj-C++ and use functions in structs. There's no reason you can't do that.

creating a struct in objective c - Josh - Mar 10, 2009 03:36 PM

And just to reiterate what Seth said, it's really not messing. Apple does it all over the place. NSMakePoint, NSMakeSize, NSMakeRect, etc.