Is there any reason why the asterisk is next to the object type in this code? I'm a little confused by the way I see this used. Some times it looks like this:
NSString* stringBefore;
and sometimes like this:
NSString *stringBefore;
Is there a difference? Or a right or wrong way to do this?
Thanks
I use the * near the variable name and not the type, since if you declare something like:
int *i, j;
i will be a pointer to int, and j will be a int.
If you used the other syntax:
int* i, j;
you may think that both i and j are pointers when they are not.
That said, I don't use nor recommend declaring a pointer and a non-pointer variable in the same line, as in this sample.
It makes no difference.
It just just an indicator to how well versed the author is in writing and reading Objective-C. The traditional standard is to write it as:
NSString *stringBefore;
There is no difference.
Related
I am attempting to use LuaJ with Scala. Most things work (actually all things work if you do them correctly!) but the simple task of setting object values has become incredibly complicated thanks to Scala's setter implementation.
Scala:
class TestObject {
var x: Int = 0
}
Lua:
function myTestFunction(testObject)
testObject.x = 3
end
If I execute the script or line containing this Lua function and pass a coerced instance of TestObject to myTestFunction this causes an error in LuaJ. LuaJ is trying to direct-write the value, and Scala requires you to go through the implicitly-defined setter (with the horrible name x_=, which is not valid Lua so even attempting to call that as a function makes your Lua not parse).
As I said, there are workarounds for this, such as defining your own setter or using the #BeanProperty markup. They just make code that should be easy to write much more complicated:
Lua:
function myTestFunction(testObject)
testObject.setX(testObject, 3)
end
Does anybody know of a way to get luaj to implicitly call the setter for such assignments? Or where I might look in the luaj source code to perhaps implement such a thing?
Thanks!
I must admit that I'm not too familiar with LuaJ, but the first thing that comes to my mind regarding your issue is to wrap the objects within proxy tables to ease interaction with the API. Depending upon what sort of needs you have, this solution may or may not be the best, but it could be a good temporary fix.
local mt = {}
function mt:__index(k)
return self.o[k] -- Define how your getters work here.
end
function mt:__newindex(k, v)
return self.o[k .. '_='](v) -- "object.k_=(v)"
end
local function proxy(o)
return setmetatable({o = o}, mt)
end
-- ...
function myTestFunction(testObject)
testObject = proxy(testObject)
testObject.x = 3
end
I believe this may be the least invasive way to solve your problem. As for modifying LuaJ's source code to better suit your needs, I had a quick look through the documentation and source code and found this, this, and this. My best guess says that line 71 of JavaInstance.java is where you'll find what you need to change, if Scala requires a different way of setting values.
f.set(m_instance, CoerceLuaToJava.coerce(value, f.getType()));
Perhaps you should use the method syntax:
testObject:setX(3)
Note the colon ':' instead of the dot '.' which can be hard to distinguish in some editors.
This has the same effect as the function call:
testObject.setX(testObject, 3)
but is more readable.
It can also be used to call static methods on classes:
luajava.bindClass("java.net.InetAddress"):getLocalHost():getHostName()
The part to the left of the ':' is evaluated once, so a statement such as
x = abc[d+e+f]:foo()
will be evaluated as if it were
local tmp = abc[d+e+f]
x = tmp.foo(tmp)
Adam Ko has provided a magnificent solution to this question, thanks Adam Ko.
BTW if, like me, you love the c preprocessor (the thing that handles #defines), you may not be aware there is a handy thing in XCode: right click on the body of one of your open source files, go down near the bottom .. "Preprocess". It actually runs the preprocessor, showing you the overall "real deal" of what is going to be compiled. It's great!
This question is a matter of style and code clarity. Consider it similar to questions about subtle naming issues, or the best choice (more readable, more maintainable) among available idioms.
As a matter of course, one uses loops like this:
for(NSUInteger _i=0; _i<20; ++_i)
{
.. do this 20 times ..
}
To be clear, the effect is to to do something N times. (You are not using the index in the body.)
I want to signal clearly for the reader that this is a count-based loop -- ie, the index is irrelevant and algorithmically we are doing something N times.
Hence I want a clean way to do a body N times, with no imperial entanglements or romantic commitments. You could make a macro like this:
#define forCount(N) for(NSUinteger __neverused=0; __neverused<N; ++__neverused)
and that works. Hence,
forCount(20)
{
.. do this 20 times ..
}
However, conceivably the "hidden" variable used there could cause trouble if it collided with something in the future. (Perhaps if you nested the control structure in question, among other problems.)
To be clear efficiency, etc., is not the issue here. There are already a few different control structures (while, do, etc etc) that are actually of course exactly the same thing, but which exist only as a matter of style and to indicate clearly to the reader the intended algorithmic meaning of the code passage in question. "forCount" is another such needed control structure, because "index-irrelevant" count loops are completely basic in any algorithmic programming.
Does anyone know the really, really, REALLY cool solution to this? The #define mentioned is just not satisfying, and you've thrown in a variable name that inevitably someone will step on.
Thanks!
Later...
A couple of people have asked essentially "But why do it?"
Look at the following two code examples:
for ( spaceship = 3; spaceship < 8; ++spaceship )
{
beginWarpEffectForShip( spaceship )
}
forCount( 25 )
{
addARandomComet
}
Of course the effect is utterly and dramatically different for the reader.
After all, there are alresdy numerous (totally identical) control structures in c, where the only difference is style: that is to say, conveying content to the reader.
We all use "non-index-relative" loops ("do something 5 times") every time we touch a keyboard, it's as natural as pie.
So, the #define is an OKish solution, is there a better way to do it? Cheers
You could use blocks for that. For instance,
void forCount(NSUInteger count, void(^block)()) {
for (NSUInteger i = 0; i < count; i++) block();
}
and it could be used like:
forCount(5, ^{
// Do something in the outer loop
forCount(10, ^{
// Do something in the inner loop
});
});
Be warned that if you need to write to variables declared outside the blocks you need to specify the __block storage qualifier.
A better way is to do this to allow nested forCount structure -
#define $_TOKENPASTE(x,y) x##y
#define $$TOKENPASTE(x,y) $_TOKENPASTE(x, y)
#define $itr $$TOKENPASTE($_itr_,__LINE__)
#define forCount(N) for (NSUInteger $itr=0; $itr<N; ++$itr)
Then you can use it like this
forCount(5)
{
forCount(10)
{
printf("Hello, World!\n");
}
}
Edit:
The problem you suggested in your comment can be fixed easily. Simply change the above macro to become
#define $_TOKENPASTE(x,y) x##y
#define $$TOKENPASTE(x,y) $_TOKENPASTE(x, y)
#define UVAR(var) $$TOKENPASTE(var,__LINE__)
#define forCount(N) for (NSUInteger UVAR($itr)=0, UVAR($max)=(NSUInteger)(N); \
UVAR($itr)<UVAR($max); ++UVAR($itr))
What it does is that it reads the value of the expression you give in the parameter of forCount, and use the value to iterate, that way you avoid multiple evaluations.
On possibility would be to use dispatch_apply():
dispatch_apply(25, myQueue, ^(size_t iterationNumber) {
... do stuff ...
});
Note that this supports both concurrent and synchronous execution, depending on whether myQueue is one of the concurrent queues or a serial queue of your own creation.
To be honest, I think you're over addressing a non-issue.
If want to iterate over an entire collection use the Objective-C 2 style iterators, if you only want to iterate a finite number of times just use a standard for loop - the memory space you loose from an otherwise un-used integer is meaningless.
Wrapping such standard approaches up just feels un-necessary and counter-intuitive.
No, there is no cooler solution (not with Apple's GCC version anyways). The level at which C works requires you to explicitly have counters for every task that require counting, and the language defines no way to create new control structures.
Other compilers/versions of GCC have a __COUNTER__ macro that I suppose could somehow be used with preprocessor pasting to create unique identifiers, but I couldn't figure a way to use it to declare identifiers in a useful way.
What's so unclean about declaring a variable in the for and never using it in its body anyways?
FYI You could combine the below code with a define, or write something for the reader to the effect of:
//Assign an integer variable to 0.
int j = 0;
do{
//do something as many times as specified in the while part
}while(++j < 20);
Why not take the name of the variable in the macro? Something like this:
#define forCount(N, name) for(NSUInteger name; name < N; name++)
Then if you wanted to nest your control structures:
forCount(20, i) {
// Do some work.
forCount(100, j) {
// Do more work.
}
}
I want to to math operations with some kind of prepared formula that would look like tan(%f)*1000 or %f+%f where the %f has to be replaced by an argument.
Is there a function in Objective-C that I can pass the format of my formula and the required numbers to execute this prepared operation?
I hope the problem is described understandable, if not, leave a comment.
Thanks in advance.
Edit 1: Thanks for your answers so far, but I'm looking for something more dynamic. The block and inline function is great, but to static. I also understand that this may be something hard to achieve out of the box.
You may be interested in DDMathParser, found here. I believe it will do everything you're looking for.
There is nothing that would do it this way, however what you could do is rewrite your "format" into a function, and just pass the arguments it needs to have, much faster and much easier.
inline float add(float p_x,float p_y)
{ return p_x+p_y; }
inline is a compiler feature that you can use to speed things up. It will replace the function call with the code it executes when you compile. This will result in a lager binary though.
If I understand your question correctly, Objective-C Blocks are great for this.
typedef double (^CalcBlock)(double);
CalcBlock myBlock = ^(double input) {
return (tan(input) * 1000);
};
NSLog(#"Result: %f", myBlock(M_PI_2));
You can pass the block that contains your algorithm to other objects or methods.
Example: I want to do this:
METHODNAME(5) {
// do something
}
which results in:
- (void)animationStep5 {
// do something
}
Is there any way to do this? Basically, what I need is a way to generate a real source code string before the program is compiled, so the compiler does see - (void)animationStep5...
Or maybe there's something different than a macro, which can help here to auto-generate method names (not at run-time)?
As was already answered here, the objective-C preprocessor is very close to the C one.
You should have a look at the examples posted there, and have a look at C proprocessor. You will simply have to use the ## syntax of the preprocessor, to concatenate the method name, and the number you want.
You can use the concatenation operator
#define METHODNAME(i) -(void)animationStep##i
you can call it like
METHODNAME(5){}
This expands to
-(void)animationStep5{}
Assuming the objective-c preprocessor behaves the same as the standard C one, you can use something like:
#define PASTE(a, b) a##b
#define METHODNAME(n) PASTE(animationStep,n)
to join the required bits together. This means that
METHODNAME(5)
gets translated to
animationStep5
(you may need to add the "void" from your question to the macro definitino depending on exactly what it is you need to do).
I have been looking everywhere for an answer to this question - perhaps I'm looking in the wrong places. Also, I'm brand new to Objective C although I have around 10 years of experience as a developer.
for this code:
[receiver makeGroup:group, memberOne, memberTwo, memberThree];
what would the method definition look like?
- (void)makeGroup:(Group *)g, (NSString *)memberOne, ...?
Thanks for any help you can provide. I know this is probably very simple...
Thanks,
R
It looks like you have a method that can take a variable number of arguments. If that's the case, the definition would look something like:
- (void)makeGroup:(Group *)g, ...;
Check out NSString's stringWithFormat: or NSArray's arrayWithObjects: methods for examples.
Edit: Upon further documentation reading, it seems that you are looking at the exact example that's in the Objective-C 2.0 documentation. The declaration you're looking for is right at the bottom of page 36.
You can receive an infinte number of arguments with an ellipsis (...). Check this for further details!
It would make more sense to have the members as a separate array argument, like -(void)makeGroup:(Group *)g members:(NSArray *)members. If you must do varargs (which is a pain), it should be written like -(void)makeGroup:(Group *)g members:(NSString *)firstMember, ....
Since I this is trying to figure out how an example method from the documentation would be declared, it would be like this:
- (void)makeGroup:(id)group, ...
Then you would start up the varags machinery with the group argument and use it to find the other arguments.
either you're looking for MrHen's answer if you're seeking to do your own class method or if you want to do them separately you write the following into your header file:
-(void)makeGroup:(Group *)g;
-(NSString *)memberOne;
EDIT: I answered the wrong question. Ignore this.
The correct way to do this is:
-(void)makeGroup:(Group *)g memberOne:(NSString *)memberOne memberTwo:(NSString *)memberTwo memberThree:(NSString *)memberThree {
...
}
The call will look like this:
[receiver makeGroup:group memberOne:memberOne memberTwo:memberTwo memberThree:memberThree];