pointers....

Quote:

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Originally Posted by armen_shlang

Ok I'm sorry but the answers didn't digest quite well. Even though I'm sure an average person would've got it by now, but I didn't.

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Code:

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        string& getCompanyName() {return companyName;};
        string& getTitle() {return title;};

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What practical purpose would you have of returning a reference to a string? Just return the string.

Code:

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        string getCompanyName() {return companyName;};
        string getTitle() {return title;};

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What if I want to get the company name, and in some other non-related function, write that name to a file, long after the object is gone? You can't do that with the code you posted, since that reference is tied to the object.

By returning a string, that string can last beyond the life the object.

Regards,

Paul McKenzie

skanthaverl, I understand what you mean and why to make the firstjob a reference and the secondjob a pointer. However, I'm having problems trying to code it....I'm a kinda newbie tackling really hard. This is what i got so far, and it's completly wrong, how can i fix this according to what you said...

Code:

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class Job
{
public:
        Job(string compName, string titl, double sal)
                : companyName(compName), title(titl), salary(sal){};
        Job(){};
        string& getCompanyName() {return companyName;};
        string& getTitle()                {return title;};
        double        getSalary()                {return salary;};
       
        void setCompanyName(string name) {companyName = name;};
        void setTitleName(string name) {title = name;};
        void setSalery(double name) {salary = name;};


private:
        string companyName;
        string title;
        double salary;
};
//*********************************************************8
class person
{
public:
        person(string name, string last, string compName, string title, double sal)
        : m_name(name), m_last(last), m_firstJob(compName,title,sal)
        {};
        int getAge(){return m_age;};
        string getName(){return m_name;};
        string getLast(){return m_last;};

        void setAge(int age) {m_age = age;};
        Job& get1stJob(){ return m_firstJob;};
        //------------------------------------
        Job* get2ndJob(){ return &m_secondJob;};


private:
        string        m_name;
        string        m_last;
        int        m_age;
        Job&        m_firstJob;
        Job*        m_secondJob;

};
//*********************************************************

void main()
{
person RafaelB("Rafael","BakerMan", "Starbucks", "maneger", 8.50);
RafaelB.setAge(22);
cout << RafaelB.getName() << " --" << RafaelB.getLast() << " --" << RafaelB.getAge() << endl;
cout << RafaelB.get1stJob().getCompanyName() << " --" <<
RafaelB.get1stJob().getTitle() << " --" << RafaelB.get1stJob().getSalary() << endl;
}

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to get your code compiled, you need to fix the following things..
1. include the follwoing in the top

Code:

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#include <string>
#include <iostream>
using namespace std;

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2. in your get2ndJob() you need to have

Code:

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Job* get2ndJob(){ return m_secondJob;};

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not return &m_secondJob; because, m_secondJob itself is a Job* type, and your get2ndJob() expect a Job* as it's return type. so simply return m_secondJob. if you say &m_secondJob, you are returning a pointer to pointer to Job, ie Job** type.

3. In your initialisation list, to init m_firstJob, you need to pass an instance/reference of a Job object; not the Job's constructor parameters.
it will be like this

Code:

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person(string name, string last, string compName, string title, double sal, Job&    job): m_name(name), m_last(last), m_firstJob(job){};

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note that I've changed the signature of the constructor person(.......). do necessary changes in the main() as well.

now your code should be OK.

ASDKJGASDJKASDASD!!!!111
main returns an int, not anything else.

Thank you,
I didn't know How to have the m_firstJob() to take only one argument also I didn't know about the constructor and how to write the member initialization list.

One last thing...
How do declare it in the main function...what should i have in the last argument.

Code:

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        person RafaelB("Rafael","BakerMan", "Starbucks", "maneger", 8.50, ???);

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also how can I initialize the m_secondJob inside the main.

Thank you very much again.
i stayed up all night for this concept.