C++|Data structures

Data structures

A data structure is a group of data elements grouped together under one name. These data elements, known as members, can have different types and different lengths. Data structures can be declared in C++ using the following syntax: 

struct type_name {
member_type1 member_name1;
member_type2 member_name2;
member_type3 member_name3;
.
.
} object_names; 

struct product {
  int weight;
  double price;
} ;

product apple;
product banana, melon;

struct product {
  int weight;
  double price;
} apple, banana, melon;

apple.weight
apple.price
banana.weight
banana.price
melon.weight
melon.price

// example about structures
#include <iostream>
#include <string>
#include <sstream>
using namespace std;

struct movies_t {
	string title;
	int year;
} mine, yours;

void printmovie(movies_t movie);

int main()
{
	string mystr;

	mine.title = "2001 A Space Odyssey";
	mine.year = 1968;

	cout << "Enter title: ";
	getline(cin, yours.title);
	cout << "Enter year: ";
	getline(cin, mystr);
	stringstream(mystr) >> yours.year; //把cin进来的string变成目标int
	/*
	string mystr("1024");
	int myint;

	stringstream(mystr) >> myint;
	*/

	cout << "My favorite movie is:\n ";
	printmovie(mine);
	cout << "And yours is:\n ";
	printmovie(yours);
	return 0;
}

void printmovie(movies_t movie)
{
	cout << movie.title;
	cout << " (" << movie.year << ")\n";
}

output:

Enter title: Alien
Enter year: 1979

My favorite movie is:
 2001 A Space Odyssey (1968)
And yours is:
 Alien (1979)

Because structures are types, they can also be used as the type of arrays to construct tables or databases of them:

// array of structures
#include <iostream>
#include <string>
#include <sstream>
using namespace std;

struct movies_t {
  string title;
  int year;
} films [3];

void printmovie (movies_t movie);

int main ()
{
  string mystr;
  int n;

  for (n=0; n<3; n++)
  {
    cout << "Enter title: ";
    getline (cin,films[n].title);
    cout << "Enter year: ";
    getline (cin,mystr);
    stringstream(mystr) >> films[n].year;
  }

  cout << "\nYou have entered these movies:\n";
  for (n=0; n<3; n++)
    printmovie (films[n]);
  return 0;
}

void printmovie (movies_t movie)
{
  cout << movie.title;
  cout << " (" << movie.year << ")\n";
}

 output:

Enter title: Blade Runner
Enter year: 1982
Enter title: The Matrix
Enter year: 1999
Enter title: Taxi Driver
Enter year: 1976
 
You have entered these movies:
Blade Runner (1982)
The Matrix (1999)
Taxi Driver (1976)

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Pointers to structures 

 Like any other type, structures can be pointed to by its own type of pointers:

struct movies_t {
  string title;
  int year;
};

movies_t amovie;
movies_t * pmovie;

pmovie = &amovie;
//The value of the pointer pmovie would be assigned the address of object amovie.

Now, let's see another example that mixes pointers and structures, and will serve to introduce a new operator: the arrow operator (->): 

// pointers to structures
#include <iostream>
#include <string>
#include <sstream>
using namespace std;

struct movies_t {
  string title;
  int year;
};

int main ()
{
  string mystr;

  movies_t amovie;
  movies_t * pmovie;
  pmovie = &amovie;

  cout << "Enter title: ";
  getline (cin, pmovie->title);
  cout << "Enter year: ";
  getline (cin, mystr);
  (stringstream) mystr >> pmovie->year;

  cout << "\nYou have entered:\n";
  cout << pmovie->title;
  cout << " (" << pmovie->year << ")\n";

  return 0;
}

output:

Enter title: Invasion of the body snatchers
Enter year: 1978
 
You have entered:
Invasion of the body snatchers (1978)

The arrow operator (->) is a dereference operator that is used exclusively with pointers to objects that have members. This operator serves to access the member of an object directly from its address. For example, in the example above:

object是amoive

member是struct里面的title, year

pmovie->title

//is, for all purposes, equivalent to:
(*pmovie).title

It is definitely something different than:

*pmovie.title

//equivalent to:
*(pmovie.title)

Expression	What is evaluated	Equivalent
a.b	Member b of object a
a->b	Member b of object pointed to by a	(*a).b
*a.b	Value pointed to by member b of object a	*(a.b)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Nesting structures 

Structures can also be nested in such a way that an element of a structure is itself another structure:

struct movies_t {
  string title;
  int year;
};

struct friends_t {
  string name;
  string email;
  movies_t favorite_movie;
} charlie, maria;

friends_t * pfriends = &charlie;

 After the previous declarations, all of the following expressions would be valid:

charlie.name
maria.favorite_movie.title
charlie.favorite_movie.year
pfriends->favorite_movie.year

(where, by the way, the last two expressions refer to the same member).