copy-constructor

I know that C++ compiler creates a copy constructor for a class. In which case do we have to write a user-defined copy constructor? Can you give some examples? sharptooth The copy constructor generated by the compiler does member-wise copying. Sometimes that is not sufficient. For example: class Class { public: Class( const char* str ); ~Class(); private: char* stored; }; Class::Class( const char* str ) { stored = new char[srtlen( str ) + 1 ]; strcpy( stored, str ); } Class::~Class() { delete[] stored; } in this case member-wise copying of stored member will not duplicate the buffer (only the

Well I have an issue with passing data into a thread using std::thread. I thought I understood the general semantics of copy constructors, etc. but it seems I don't quite grasp the problem. I have a simple class called Log that has hidden it's copy constructor thusly: class Log { public: Log(const char filename[], const bool outputToConsole = false); virtual ~Log(void); //modify behavior void appendStream(std::ostream *); //commit a new message void commitStatus(const std::string str); private: //members std::ofstream fileStream; std::list<std::ostream *> listOfStreams; //disable copy

Since a copy constructor MyClass(const MyClass&); and an = operator overload MyClass& operator = (const MyClass&); have pretty much the same code, the same parameter, and only differ on the return, is it possible to have a common function for them both to use? CB Bailey Yes. There are two common options. One - which is generally discouraged - is to call the operator= from the copy constructor explicitly: MyClass(const MyClass& other) { operator=(other); } However, providing a good operator= is a challenge when it comes to dealing with the old state and issues arising from self assignment. Also