Going to Copy Constructor from here Why?

[utab]

Dear all, I have got a simple example to demonstrate the need for copy
construction but one point is not clear to me. When returning from the
function in main h2 is not constructed why? I marked that point and
that is also obvious from the output

#include <fstream>
#include <string>
using namespace std;
ofstream out("HowMany.out");

class HowMany {
static int objectCount;
public:
HowMany() { objectCount++; }
static void print(const string& msg = "") {
if(msg.size() != 0) out << msg << ": ";
out << "objectCount = "
<< objectCount << endl;
}
~HowMany() {
objectCount--;
print("~HowMany()");
}
};

int HowMany:bjectCount = 0;

// Pass and return BY VALUE:
HowMany f(HowMany x) {
x.print("x argument inside f()");
return x;
}

int main() {
HowMany h;
HowMany:rint("after construction of h");
HowMany h2 = f(h);
//////////////////////////////////////////// THIS POINT
HowMany:rint("after call to f()");
} ///:~

The output:

after construction of h: objectCount = 1
x argument inside f(): objectCount = 1
~HowMany(): objectCount = 0
after call to f(): objectCount = 0
~HowMany(): objectCount = -1
~HowMany(): objectCount = -2

Many Thanks.

 

[Phlip]

Dear all, I have got a simple example to demonstrate the need for copy
construction but one point is not clear to me. When returning from the
function in main h2 is not constructed why?

The FAQ covers "return value optimization":

http://www.parashift.com/c++-faq-lite/ctors.html#faq-10.9

Always Google the FAQ before posting!

 

[Pavel]

utab wrote:




The FAQ covers "return value optimization":

http://www.parashift.com/c++-faq-lite/ctors.html#faq-10.9

Always Google the FAQ before posting!

I don't believe it has to do with the optimization. It is just that
other 2 instances are created by the language-gentrated copy constructor
rather than by the default constructor -- and in that generated
constructor, object count is not incremented. In fact, from the fact
there are 2 unmatched decrements of objectCount, we can conclude that no
optimization takes place in this particular case.

To see the construction, just add a copy constructor to the class, e.g.:

HowMany(const HowMany &) { ++objectCount; }