# Example: Mathematical Vectors¶

Cyganek section 3.16

Once again, we are doing a different example than your text, but the emphasis here remains on encapsulation.

Consider a two-dimension vector:

$\vec{v} = a \hat{x} + b \hat{y}$

We know that we can add and subtract vectors, multiply and divide by a scalar, and do operations like dot and cross products.

Let’s write a class that manages a 2-d vector and learn how to overload the basic mathematical operators.

Tip

Operators still follow the standard precedence even when overloaded.

Let’s imagine that we have a class Vector2d that stores the x and y value of a two-dimensional vector. What are some things we’d like to be able to do with a vector?

We’d like to be able to output it:

Vector2d v;

std::cout << v << std::endl;


we already saw that this is controlled by the std::ostream operator<< () function. This is an example over operator overloading. In this case, we want to make << understand our Vector2d class.

We’d also like to be able to add and subtract:

Vector2d v1;
Vector2d v2;

auto v3 = v1 + v2;
auto v4 = v1 - v2;


In this case, the + and - operations will return a new Vector2d.

What if we want to change x or y directly in a Vector2d? We will make the data private (this is a form of encapsulation). So we will create setters that allow us to change these values.

Here’s an implementation:

Listing 43 vector2d.H
#ifndef VECTOR_2D_H
#define VECTOR_2D_H

#include <iostream>

class Vector2d {

private:

// our member data

double x;
double y;

public:

// default constructor

Vector2d()
: x{0.0}, y{0.0}
{}

// another constructor

Vector2d(double _x, double _y)
: x{_x}, y{_y}
{}

// setters

inline void set_x(double _x) {x = _x;}

inline void set_y(double _y) {y = _y;}

// operators

// add two vectors

Vector2d operator+(const Vector2d& vec) {
Vector2d v_out;
v_out.x = x + vec.x;
v_out.y = y + vec.y;
return v_out;
}

// subtract two vectors

Vector2d operator-(const Vector2d& vec) {
Vector2d v_out;
v_out.x = x - vec.x;
v_out.y = y - vec.y;
return v_out;
}

// unary minus

Vector2d operator-() {
Vector2d v_out;
v_out.x = -x;
v_out.y = -y;
return v_out;
}

// << is not a class member, but needs access to the member data

friend std::ostream& operator<< (std::ostream& os, const Vector2d& v);
};

std::ostream& operator<< (std::ostream& os, const Vector2d& v)
{
os << "(" << v.x << ", " << v.y << ")";
return os;
}

#endif


Some notes:

• We explicitly mark the member data as private and the functions are public

• We have 2 contructors: the default constructor and a parametric constructor. These both have the same name – that’s fine, C++ will call which ever one matches the argument list you use.

• We have 2 setter functions to modify the underlying vector data:

inline void set_x(double _x) {x = _x;}
inline void set_y(double _y) {y = _y;}


These are marked inline, which is a hint to the compiler that it can replace the function call with just inserting the code where it is needed. This gives us better performance.

• We have 3 operators that are member functions: +, and two implementations of -. The second - has the form:

Vector2d operator-();


This is the unary minus, and is invoked when we do -v for a Vector2d v.

• The stream operator, <<, has the keyword friend. This is needed since technically this function is not a member of the class, but it needs to have access to the private member data.

As an alternate to making this a friend, we could have added getter functions to our class to get the private data.

Hint

In the operator-overload function

Vector2d operator+(const Vector2d& vec)  {}


vec is a second Vector2d object that we are going to add to our current one. So why can we access the private data of vec? i.e., vec.x and vec.y?

This is part of the design of C++. Two instances of the same class can access private data of one another directly. The private attribute is enforced on a class-basis, not an object-basis.

See this stackoverflow discussion

Hint

When do we need to make something a friend?

Essentially, it is needed for an operator where our class is not to the left of the operator.

Imagine that it did make sense to add a double to a Vector2d, then we could imagine 2 different additions:

double a{};
Vector2d vec{};

auto new_vec = a + vec;   // our class is on the right -- this is not a member func
auto new2_vec = vec + a;  // our class is on the left -- this is a member func


When we write a member function, we don’t include the object itself in the argument list, so for the second case, vec + a, we would use the function signature:

Vector2d operator+ (const double& a);


The current Vector2d object is implicitly part of the function, and C++ provides a pointer called this that points to the address of the object that we are working on.

Tip

There is a nice FAQ of operator overloading on stack overflow:

What are the basic rules and idioms for operator overloading?

What happens when we do:

Vector2d v1(1.0, 2.0);

auto v2 = v1;


This invokes the copy constructor, which should look like:

Vector2d (const Vector2d &v);


but we didn’t write this. It turns out that C++ will automatically generate the copy constructor for us, and in most cases, it will work fine. Only if we have complicated member data (like pointers) would we need to explicitly write the copy.

There is another special function that we haven’t talked about – the destructor. This cleans up an objects resources when it goes out of scope, the program ends, or an object is explicitly deleted. For our class, the resources are just 2 doubles, which C++ can handle on its own.

Tip

The Rule of Three says that if you define any of: the destructor, copy constructor, or copy assignment, then you should define all three.

Now let’s test this out. Here’s a test driver:

Listing 44 test_vectors.cpp
#include <iostream>
#include "vector2d.H"

int main() {

// create 2 vectors

Vector2d v1(1, 2);
Vector2d v2(2, 4);

// output our vectors

std::cout << v1 << " " << v2 << std::endl;

// output their sum

std::cout << v1 + v2 << std::endl;

// create a new vector from subracting our two vectors

auto v3 = v1 - v2;
std::cout << v3 << std::endl;

// create a copy

auto v4 = v3;
std::cout << v3 << " " << v4 << std::endl;

// change the data in the original
v3.set_x(0.0);
v3.set_y(0.0);

// did both change? or just the original?

std::cout << v3 << " " << v4 << std::endl;

}


There are a wide range of other capabilities we could imagine adding to this class to make it easier to work with vectors. We’ll explore some of them in our homework.

try it…

Try overloading >> so we can read directly into a Vector2d object, e.g.,

Vector2d v;

cin >> v;


Your function should look like:

friend std::istream& operator>>(std::istream& is, Vector2d &v);


Notice that the Vector2d is not const, since we will be modifying it.

You will want to read 2 pieces of data from the input stream and directly set v.x and v.y.