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<concept id="GUID-8675AC01-E2D8-425C-899F-12BE99345AA9" xml:lang="en"><title>C++

and Machine Architecture</title><shortdesc>The C++ language, following its foundation in C, is close to the

machine architecture. This allows applications to be implemented efficiently,

but, especially for developers new to the language, presents some issues of

which you need to be aware. This topic reviews the basic language features

from this perspective, and discusses how the resulting issues are handled.</shortdesc><prolog><metadata><keywords/></metadata></prolog><conbody>

<section>       <title>Arithmetic types</title>       <p>An <codeph>int</codeph> is

usually implemented as the natural machine word size of the particular implementation.

This is 32 bits in most modern machines. It was 16 bits in older machines,

and in a few machines it may even be 64 bits.     </p><p>Similarly, a pointer

(a <codeph>void*</codeph>, for instance) is usually implemented as a machine

word but, in some machines with special architectures, a pointer may be more

complex.     </p><p>It is assumed that Symbian is implemented on a machine

with a 32-bit or greater machine word, and 32-bit pointers. The types <codeph>TInt</codeph> and <codeph>TUint</codeph> are<codeph> typedefed</codeph> onto the built-in <codeph>int</codeph> and <codeph>unsigned int</codeph> types,

and are guaranteed to be at least 32 bits.     </p><p>When you need a specific

size, regardless of implementation, use a sized type. Several of these are

available: </p><table id="GUID-8E1CEF20-AF41-4980-AA56-5CBF2B7F6A9E">

<tgroup cols="2"><colspec colname="col1"/><colspec colname="col2"/>

<tbody>

<row>

<entry><p><codeph>TInt32</codeph>, <codeph>TUint32</codeph> </p> </entry>

<entry><p>32-bit signed and unsigned integer</p>    <p> In each case, the

representation is a 32-bit machine word which, in the ARM architecture, must

be aligned to a four-byte boundary. The compiler ensures that this is always

the case.</p>  </entry>

</row>

<row>

<entry><p><codeph>TInt8</codeph>, <codeph>TUint8</codeph>, <codeph>TText8</codeph></p>  </entry>

<entry><p>8-bit signed and unsigned integer, and 8-bit character     </p><p>In

each case, the representation is an 8-bit byte, which has no specific alignment

requirements.  </p></entry>

</row>

<row>

<entry><p><codeph>TInt16</codeph>, <codeph>TUint16</codeph>, <codeph>TText16</codeph> </p></entry>

<entry><p>16-bit signed and unsigned integer, and 16-bit character     </p><p>In

each case, the representation is a 16-bit halfword, which should be aligned

to a two-byte boundary.  </p></entry>

</row>

<row>

<entry><p><codeph>TInt64</codeph>, <codeph>TUint64</codeph>  </p></entry>

<entry><p>64-bit signed and unsigned integer     </p><p>These are typedefed

to appropriate built-in types for the compiler being used (long long, and

unsigned long long for ARM RVCT).  </p></entry>

</row>

<row>

<entry><p><codeph>TReal</codeph>, <codeph>TReal64</codeph> </p></entry>

<entry><p>Double-precision floating point, IEEE754 64-bit representation 

   This is the floating-point type recommended for general use.     </p><p>You

are recommended to perform operations in integer arithmetic if possible (for

instance, most GUI calculations), and to use floating-point only when the

problem demands it (for instance, a spreadsheet application).     </p><p>On

processors that have floating point hardware, the compiler generates host

instructions which use that hardware directly. On processors which don't have

a floating point unit, the compiler implements the calculations in software.

 </p></entry>

</row>

<row>

<entry><p><codeph>TReal32</codeph> </p></entry>

<entry><p>32-bit floating point     </p><p>This is smaller and quicker, but

should only be used when space and/or time are at a true premium, as its precision

is unsatisfactory for many applications.  </p></entry>

</row>

</tbody>

</tgroup>

</table>     </section>

<section><title>Compound types</title><p>Apart from classes, C++ inherits

from C various other types of compounding.     </p><p>A struct maps an area

of memory: </p><codeblock xml:space="preserve">struct TEg

    {

    TInt iInt; // offset 0, 4 bytes

    TText8 iText; // offset 4, 1 byte

        // 3 wasted bytes

    TReal iReal; // offset 8, 8 bytes

    } // total length = 16 bytes</codeblock><fig id="GUID-70477651-EC14-4321-ACA5-79CEE4AEC69E">

<image href="GUID-7E801A44-4509-5AC0-88D5-7DEA1AF7969D_d0e2078_href.png" placement="inline"/>

</fig><p>Structures are regarded as <codeph>T</codeph> types: that is they

may not own heap-allocated resources such as <codeph>C</codeph> type classes.

    </p><p>An array contains many built-ins or other types </p><codeblock xml:space="preserve">TInt a[32]; // 32 TInts, = 128 bytes  

S b[3]; // 3 Ss, = 48 bytes </codeblock><p>The main disadvantage of using

C++ arrays is that there is no automatic checking of index values. For this

reason, and to support more complex containers, C++ has evolved the Standard

Template Library (STL). Symbian OS does not use STL, but provides its own

range of efficient container classes, for fixed, dynamic, and associative

arrays. For details, see <xref href="GUID-2F64B579-73D3-548A-9104-16483AF77BCB.dita">Dynamic

Arrays</xref>. </p></section>

<section><title>Pointers</title><p>A pointer is a memory address. If you can

take the address of an object, then you can refer to it by pointer:</p><codeblock xml:space="preserve">S* ps; // pointer to an S

ps=&s // take address of existing S

</codeblock><p>A pointer is a 32-bit machine word, and could point to anything.</p><fig id="GUID-D33AB198-0B62-4391-B86D-088595AE6B8B">

<image href="GUID-045F3455-2B5A-5B20-ABCE-ED202DC5078A_d0e2109_href.png" placement="inline"/>

</fig><p>The specifier is placed next to the type rather than the name.   </p><p>There

is often a need to refer to memory as anything: for this, a <codeph>void*</codeph> pointer

is used in C++. In Symbian, a <codeph>TAny*</codeph> may be referred to instead.

A <codeph>TAny*</codeph> is a pointer to anything. </p></section>

<section><title>Strings</title><p>In C++, the basic string is an array of

characters:</p><codeblock xml:space="preserve">char* hello="hello";</codeblock><p>This statement

does two things: firstly, it sets aside six bytes of memory containing the

characters 'h', 'e', 'l', 'l', 'o', '\0'. Secondly, it sets the pointer hello

to contain the address of the first of those bytes. </p><fig id="GUID-08C1AF40-8D93-414E-B103-1E57AB17480F">

<image href="GUID-512D0DA7-0BC2-534F-9233-11F46D285CA6_d0e2138_href.png" placement="inline"/>

</fig><p>Functions accessing the string rely on this address as its starting

point, and the terminating <codeph>\0</codeph> to indicate its end. Functions

which manipulate the string must either deliberately not extend it, or must

have some cue as to the amount of memory reserved for the string (beyond the

trailing<codeph>\0</codeph>) so they know how much it can be extended. This

leads to an awkward programming style, and every C++ library provides a way

to manipulate strings more elegantly. The Symbian platform solution is <i>descriptors</i>:

these are introduced in <xref href="GUID-9C51D27D-BEDB-59D1-8F0E-8426B8FF2230.dita">Descriptors</xref></p></section>

<section><title>Functions</title><p>Functions are a piece of code which can

be called and executed from anywhere else in a program. The stack is used

to pass parameters and to contain local variables. The stack is often augmented

by machine registers, especially in a register-rich processor such as the

ARM, so that memory is often not used. But, conceptually, there is a stack,

and for the purposes of this explanation it is convenient to consider the

stack as if it were implemented entirely in memory.   </p><p>Parameters are

passed by copying or evaluating onto the called functions stack frame. It

is bad practice to pass large parameters, such as an entire struct, or, in

fact, anything beyond two machine words in size, because this involves excessive

copying. Instead, a pointer or a reference should be used to pass the address,

instead of the data itself.   </p><p>In a multi-tasking system such as Symbian,

each thread has its own stack, which is a pre-allocated area of memory. Each

function then allocates its own frame from the stack on entry, and de-allocates

it on exit. The advantage of the stack mechanism is that allocation and de-allocation

are very rapid indeed— just a couple of instructions. Also, the lifetime of

any variable on the stack is very well defined: it is the lifetime of its

owning function, or, in fact, its owning block, since functions may have blocks

within them.   </p><p>When a function returns, its stack memory is still there:

it is just not allocated. The stack memory will be re-used by the next function

that is called. A potential source of error is to allocate an object on a

functions stack frame, and then return a pointer to it: </p><codeblock xml:space="preserve">TEg* foo()

    {

    TEg s;

    TEg* ps=&s

    return ps; // !! error !!

    }

</codeblock><p>This pointer will not be valid for long, because the memory

will be re-used when the next function is called. You should never allow this

to happen. This error is so obvious that a compiler will trap it. But it can

occur in more subtle forms: </p><codeblock xml:space="preserve">foo(CContainer* aContainer)

    {

    TEg s;

    TEg* ps=&s

    aContainer->iMember=ps;

    }

</codeblock><p>These cannot be trapped so easily. </p></section>

<section><title>Heap</title><p>Each thread also has a heap. You can allocate

and de-allocate objects on the heap at will, and refer to them by pointer.

The benefit of a heap is that the lifetime of an object is entirely within

your control. This power comes with responsibility: you must not forget to

de-allocate objects once you have finished with them, and you must not use

pointers to objects that have been de-allocated. </p></section>

</conbody></concept>