Private member accessors methods for objects

[Alan Ning]

I have a class that contains a stl vector as a private member. I would
like to write an accessor method for this stl vector. However, I don't
want to return a whole copy of the vector. What should I do in this
case?

Right now, I am returning the address of the vector.

const vector<> * ReturnVector() const { return m_vector; };

Is this a good idea? What's the proper way of writing an accessor
method for a big object such as the stl vector?

Thanks

.... Alan

 

[Phlip]

Is this a good idea? What's the proper way of writing an accessor
method for a big object such as the stl vector?

Write the calling code first (preferably as a test case). What does that
code look like? Should it work with an iterator into the vector? With an
index? Or should it tell the vector's owner what high-level thing it wants
done.

Encapsulation is not the same thing as making all data private, then
creating accessors for all the data.

 

[Marcus Kwok]

I have a class that contains a stl vector as a private member. I would
like to write an accessor method for this stl vector. However, I don't
want to return a whole copy of the vector. What should I do in this
case?

Right now, I am returning the address of the vector.

const vector<> * ReturnVector() const { return m_vector; };

Is this a good idea? What's the proper way of writing an accessor
method for a big object such as the stl vector?

You could return a (const) reference to the vector, but read Phlip's
reply to make sure that's really what you want to do.