Streaming and order of precedence

[d.stonier]

Hi all,

I've recently had some issues with the streaming operator and the
order of precedence used when mixing it with the member function
operator (operator .) Example code is below.

*************************************************************************
#include <iostream>
#include <vector>
using namespace std;

class A
{
public:
A() : i(0) {};
int f() {
i++;
v.push_back(i);
return i;
}

void reset() { i = 0; v.clear(); }

int i;
vector<int> v;
};

int main()
{
A a;

// Order of action:
// - Member functions fire from RIGHT to LEFT.
// - Insertion operators fire from LEFT to RIGHT
cout << a.f() << a.f();
cout << endl;

cout << "Vector contents a: ";
for (unsigned int i = 0; i < a.v.size(); ++i )
{
cout << a.v.at(i);
}
cout << endl;

a.reset();
int k;
// Order of action;
// - Member functions fire from LEFT to RIGHT
// - Addition operator fires.
// - Assignment operator fires.
k = a.f() + 3*a.f();
cout << "k: " << k << endl;
cout << "Vector contents a: ";
for (unsigned int i = 0; i < a.v.size(); ++i )
{
cout << a.v.at(i);
}
return 0;
}
*********************************************************************************
OUTPUT:
21
Vector contents a: 12
k: 7
Vector contents a: 12
*********************************************************************************

The result of this seems to indicate that the . operator for the
member function call has different associativities in the different
situations. I must be missing something here, but I haven't been able
to find anyone to give me a conclusive answer on it. Can anyone here
shed some light on it?

Cheers,
Daniel.

 

[White Wolf]

OUTPUT:
21
Vector contents a: 12
k: 7
Vector contents a: 12

Well, this output seems fine to me. What did you expect to see?

ww (Attila)

 

[Snorri]

(e-mail address removed)> wrote:

[SNIP]

OUTPUT:
21
Vector contents a: 12
k: 7
Vector contents a: 12

Well, this output seems fine to me.  What did you expect to see?

ww (Attila)

Expected a '12' on the first line in the cout. Curious as to why the
multiple a.f() calls are worked out from right to left in the
streaming case, but from left to right when doing the arithmetic case.
Is precedence and associativity for the '.' operator not entirely
fixed?

 

[Paavo Helde]

(e-mail address removed)> wrote:

[SNIP]

OUTPUT:
21
Vector contents a: 12
k: 7
Vector contents a: 12

Well, this output seems fine to me.  What did you expect to see?

ww (Attila)

Expected a '12' on the first line in the cout. Curious as to why the
multiple a.f() calls are worked out from right to left in the
streaming case, but from left to right when doing the arithmetic case.
Is precedence and associativity for the '.' operator not entirely
fixed?

The order of evaluation in this case is left unspecified (I guess in
order to give compilers a chance to optimize code better, or by historic
reasons).

Here using i++ twice during a full expression gives you merely
unspecified behavior because of sequence points at function enter/exit.
Without functions the behaviour would be undefined - see
http://www.parashift.com/c++-faq-lite/misc-technical-issues.html#faq-
39.15

hth
Paavo