I am new to dart and am having issues storing data in a class. I know how to create instances but I then want to store each instance into a map that I can easily access. Here is my code below...
class myCar{
var myMapOfCars = new Map(); // I wanted this to be a class level variable that I can continuously add or remove from.
String carName; // Instance
myCar({this.carName});
addInfoToMap() {
// Some logic to increment the index or create the index the
myMapOfCars[theKey] = this.carName; // This should be the class variable.
}
}
Every time I call "addInfoToMap", the "myMapOfCars" instance is reinitialized and empty again. I wanted to add/append into the map so I can have as many cars in there as I want. I am open to other solutions as well, I come from Swift and I know you can do it in Swift. It just makes everything really clean.
Thanks for your help!!
The documentation "Class variables and methods" would be appropriate for this.
Static variables
Static variables (class variables) are useful for class-wide state and
constants:
class Queue {
static const initialCapacity = 16;
// ···
}
void main() {
assert(Queue.initialCapacity == 16);
}
Static variables aren’t initialized until they’re used.
Static methods
Static methods (class methods) don’t operate on an instance, and thus
don’t have access to this. They do, however, have access to static
variables. As the following example shows, you invoke static methods
directly on a class:
import 'dart:math';
class Point {
double x, y;
Point(this.x, this.y);
static double distanceBetween(Point a, Point b) {
var dx = a.x - b.x;
var dy = a.y - b.y;
return sqrt(dx * dx + dy * dy);
}
}
void main() {
var a = Point(2, 2);
var b = Point(4, 4);
var distance = Point.distanceBetween(a, b);
assert(2.8 < distance && distance < 2.9);
print(distance);
}
You can use static methods as compile-time constants. For example, you
can pass a static method as a parameter to a constant constructor.
As an additional reference, you can also visit this blog.
Related
I'm a beginner learning dart from the book dart apprentice and I reached where they were discussing constructors in dart classes, the book was implying that constructors create instances of the class which I understood but I needed more info about constructors. So I googled and some results repeated what was already in the book about it being used to create instances of a class while others also showed that it's used to instantiate class properties, but my problem is with the other answer which I found that they are used to instantiate properties of a class, but my question is: I instantiate all class properties when I create the class by declaring the property variables, like this:
class UserClass{
userClassProperty = "";
anotherUserClassProperty = ""; }
why is the constructor also needed to instantiate class properties?
Often, values are unique to every class instance.
Consider the following example:
class Point {
final int x;
final int y;
const Point(this.x, this.y);
double get distanceToOrigin => sqrt(x * x + y * y);
}
If the x and y values were defined inside the class, it would be pretty useless. Instead, different Point objects can be instantiated with different values, which means the same code can be used for different situations.
Ok, so constructors instantiate or start a class by collecting all the data the class needs to start to start working. Constructors are so important that the dart compiler provides one even if you don't explicitly create one. For example, you create a class for mammals like this :
class Mammal{
String name = "cat";
int numberOfLegs = 2;
}
Although you don't explicitly add a constructor the dart compiler adds a default constructor like this :
class Mammal{
Mammal(); //This is added by dart during the class instantiation by default.
String name = "cat";
int numberOfLegs = 2;
}
Yeah, that's how crucial constructors are to the dart compiler.
And on the topic of why are they necessary even when you declare all the properties by yourself in the class, as hacker1024 said it would make the class pretty useless, as the point of the existence of classes is to create variants but with different properties. Not adding a constructor to your class and defining all the properties in the class would mean that your class doesn't take property arguments which in turn also means that different variants of your class can't be created. Again this goes directly against the point of the existence of dart classes. For example, you have a class like this :
class Mammals{
Strig name = "Human";
int numberOfLegs = 2;
bool hasFur = false;
}
final cat = Mammal();
final human = Mammal();
print(cat.numberOfLegs); //Prints 2
//2
print(human.numberOfLegs); //Also prints 2
//2
print(cat.hasFur);
// false
Yeah, this class is problematic. Cats with 2 legs? You would agree with me that that's not how things are in reality. And also the class is pretty useless in the sense that it's not modular, no matter which kind of mammal we create be it a cat, a sheep or even a cow the name property is going to be the default one we set, that is "Human". When we create a class to simulate mammals we want to be able to define what kind of properties it has, not use some fixed values. So you want to create a class which has a constructor like this :
class Mammals{
Mammals(String name,int noOfLegs, bool hasFur){
this.name = name;
this.noOfLegs = noOfLegs;
this.hasFur = hasFur;
}
String name = "";
int noOfLegs = 0;
bool hasFur = False;
}
final cat = Mammal("Cat", 4, True); //Now you can pass in the properties ou want.
final human = Mammal("Human", 2, false);
print(cat.name); //This prints the customized name of the object cat instead of some fixed value
//Cat
print(human.name); //This prints the customized name of the object human
Now we have two instances of the class with separate property values.
Although this adds a little more code, the modularity benefit is worth it.
I am struggling with the concept of getters and setters in Dart, and the more I read, the more I cannot grasp the underlying purpose. Take for example the following code:
main() {
Car car = new Car();
car.doors = 44;
print(car.doors); // 44
}
class Car {
int doors = 4;
}
Later, I decide to make “doors” a private variable, so I do the following:
main() {
Car car = new Car();
car.doors = 44;
print(car.doors); // 44
}
class Car {
int _doors = 4;
int get doors => _doors;
set doors(int numberOfDoors) => _doors = numberOfDoors;
}
According to the code, _doors is now a private variable, and so I cannot access it in main(). However, by manipulating doors, I can indirectly change the value of _doors, which is what I thought I wanted to prevent in the first place by making it a private variable. So what is the purpose of making a previously public variable into a private one, if you can still indirectly manipulate it? And, how are getters and setters even working to change the properties of these variables? I am trying to understand the fundamental concept, because without that, I don't understand how or why getters and setters are used.
Instance variables in Dart have implicit getters and setters. So for your example code, it will operate in exactly the same way, since all you have done is changed from an implicit getter and setter to an explicit getter and setter.
The value of explicit getters and setters is that you don't need to define both if you don't want. For instance we can change your example to only define a getter:
main() {
Car car = new Car();
print(car.doors); // 4
car.doors = 6; // Won't work since no doors setter is defined
}
class Car {
int _doors = 4;
int get doors => _doors;
}
Additionally, you can also add extra logic in a getter or setter that you don't get in an implicit getter or setter:
class Car {
int _doors = 4;
int get doors => _doors;
set doors(int numberOfDoors) {
if(numberOfDoors >= 2 && numberOfDoors <= 6) {
_doors = numberOfDoors;
}
}
}
The getter and setter functions allow us to make the class appear to have a property, without a explicit property being declared (_doors in your case). The property value may be calculated from other properties.
The getters and setters allow us to execute arbitrary code when the property is get or set.
Omitting a setter makes the property immutable.
An abstract class may declare getters and setters without bodies as part of a required class interface.
class X extends Y {
X(int a, int b) : super(a,b);
}
Can someone give me an explanation about the syntax meaning of the colon :?
This feature in Dart is called "initializer list".
It allows you to initialize fields of your class, make assertions and call the super constructor.
This means that it is not the same as the constructor body. As I said, you can only initialize variables and only access static members. You cannot call any (non-static) methods.
The benefit is that you can also initialize final variables, which you cannot do in the constructor body. You also have access to all parameters that are passed to the constructor, which you do not have when initializing the parameters directly in the parentheses.
Additionally, you can use class fields on the left-hand of an assignment with the same name as a parameter on the right-hand side that refers to a parameter. Dart will automatically use the class field on the left-hand side.
Here is an example:
class X {
final int number;
X(number) : number = number ?? 0;
}
The code above assigns the parameter named number to the final field this.number if it is non-null and otherwise it assigns 0. This means that the left-hand number of the assignment actually refers to this.number. Now, you can even make an assertion that will never fail (and is redundant because of that, but I want to explain how everything works together):
class X {
final int number;
X(number): number = number ?? 0, assert(number != null);
}
Learn more.
It's ok to access non static member in initializer list.
class Point {
num x, y;
Point(this.x, this.y);
Point.origin(): this.x = 10, this.y = 10;
}
main() {
Point p = Point.origin();
print(p.x); // 10
}
I am currently working on building an ABM model using C++.
I have classes that have the need to interact with each other, because e.g. class B needs to examine values in class A and return some evaluation on it, which then class C might want to read. Classes need not to change other classes values, only to read from them.
Class B in my current implementation has a po
inter to a vector containing all members of Class A. The pointer is there for two order of reason: it makes easier to initialize the vector, and the vector is left in the scope of main so that I can access and loop over it, calling the members of class A for each agent.
My MCVE:
#include <iostream>
#include <vector>
using namespace std;
class A; // Forward declaration
class B{
int id,
some_value;
vector<A> * A_vec;
public:
// Overloaded constructor
B(int ID, vector<A> & PTR)
{
A_vec = & PTR;
id = ID;
some_value = 0;
};
// Copy Constructor
B( const B& that ):
id(that.id),
some_value(that.some_value)
{
// Pointer ??
};
// Non-default destructor -> uncomment leads to seg_fault
/*
~B(){ delete [] A_vec;};
*/
// Assignment operator
B& operator=(const B& that)
{
id = that.id;
some_value = that.some_value;
// Pointer ??
return *this;
};
//Methods to update different variables go here ..
void do_stuff();
};
class A{
B & class2_ref;
vector<double> o;
public:
int stuff;
// Overloaded constructor
A(int STUFF, B & REF, vector<double> O):
class2_ref(REF),
o(O)
{
stuff = STUFF;
};
// Methods to update different variables go here ..
};
void B::do_stuff()
{
int L = A_vec->size();
for(int l = 0; l<L; l++) some_value += (*A_vec)[l].stuff; // Perform some operation
};
int main(){
int I = 5; // Number of objects of A
vector<double> O(12,2); // Some numbers in here
B b(0,A_vec);
for(int i = 0; i< I; i++)
{
A a(i,b,O);
A_vec.push_back(a);
}
b.do_stuff();
cout<< "Debugging MCVE" << endl;
return 0;
}
My question then is:
Should I implement the destructor/copy constructor/assignment operator in class B? What about class A ? If so, can you please point me to the correct syntax(for the destructor the one above in comments leads to seg fault).
My understanding is that this might be one of the case in which I am happy with a "shallow" destruction of the pointer, because both class B and vector<A> will go out of scope at the return statement. class B owns the pointer, which gets destructed when it is due, and the same for vector.
But then, what about the other member from the rule of three?
There is only one object of class B planned, but I might (small chance) want to generalize later on.
if a class have a pointer type, you should implement a destructor, and i would suggest implementing a copy and an assignment operator as well, else you will be dealing with the same object from 2 different places, which could cause you some errors, for example -
void someFunction(B &b)
{
B a = b;
}
B b(0,A_vec);
someFunction(b); //After finishing someFunction, it will try to delete the vector from a , but it is the same vector you used in b.
b.do_stuff(); // Would cause a seg error
And for the destructor syntax, just delete the vector, not its content, it will use the vector default destrctor on the content:
delete A_vec
just make sure you dont use it if its not initialized, i would suggest just building a empty vector on each ctor of the class, that way you wont get a seg fault and you can use delete.
Is their a way in c# to instantiate a variable into a method call without using a switch statement.
It sounds like you want to take a string and use that string to call a method on an object, this can be done with reflection without the need for a switch statement.
string methodName = "ToString";
var method = typeof(TypeYourMethodExistsOn).GetMethod(methodName);
method.Invoke(objectInstance, null);
I'm not too clear, either. If you don't want to use reflection (heavy sometimes), for dynamically calling methods using a variable, you could use something like a collection containing delegates as values and call them.
I use an extremely like dictionary object to dynamically call a known method based on string inputs.
psuedo code:
delegate void Del(int i, double j);
class MathClass
{
static void Main()
{
MathClass m = new MathClass();
// Delegate instantiation using "MultiplyNumbers"
Del d = m.MultiplyNumbers;
Hashtable ht = new Hashtable();
ht.Add("mult", d);
// Invoke the delegate object.
System.Console.WriteLine("Invoking the delegate using 'MultiplyNumbers':");
for (int i = 1; i <= 5; i++)
{
((del) ht("mult"))(i, 2);
}
}
// Declare the associated method.
void MultiplyNumbers(int m, double n)
{
System.Console.Write(m * n + " ");
}
}