C++ std::unordered_map key custom hashing - algorithm

Question

I've got the following test.cpp file
#include <string>
#include <functional>
#include <unordered_map>
#include <iostream>
class Mystuff {
public:
std::string key1;
int key2;
public:
Mystuff(std::string _key1, int _key2)
: key1(_key1)
, key2(_key2)
{}
};
namespace std {
template<>
struct hash<Mystuff *> {
size_t operator()(Mystuff * const& any) const {
size_t hashres = std::hash<std::string>()(any->key1);
hashres ^= std::hash<int>()(any->key2);
std::cout << "Hash for find/insert is [" << hashres << "]" << std::endl;
return (hashres);
}
};
}; /* eof namespace std */
typedef std::unordered_map<Mystuff *, Mystuff *>mystuff_map_t;
mystuff_map_t map;
int insert_if_not_there(Mystuff * stuff) {
std::cout << "Trying insert for " << stuff->key1 << std::endl;
if (map.find(stuff) != map.end()) {
std::cout << "It's there already..." << std::endl;
return (-1);
} else {
map[stuff] = stuff;
std::cout << "Worked..." << std::endl;
}
return (0);
}
int main(){
Mystuff first("first", 1);
Mystuff second("second", 2);
Mystuff third("third", 3);
Mystuff third_duplicate("third", 3);
insert_if_not_there(&first);
insert_if_not_there(&second);
insert_if_not_there(&third);
insert_if_not_there(&third_duplicate);
}
You can compile with g++ -o test test.cpp -std=gnu++11.
I don't get what I'm doing wrong with it: the hash keying algorithm is definitely working, but for some reason (which is obviously in the - bad - way I'm doing something), third_duplicate is inserted as well in the map, while I'd wish it wasn't.
What am I doing wrong?

Answer 1

IIRC unordered containers need operator== as well as std::hash. Without it, I'd expect a compilation error. Except that your key is actually MyStuff* - the pointer, not the value.
That means you get the duplicate key stored as a separate item because it's actually not, to unordered_map, a real duplicate - it has a different address, and address equality is how unordered_map is judging equality.
Simple solution - use std::unordered_map<Mystuff,Mystuff> instead. You will need to overload operator== (or there's IIRC some alternative template, similar to std::hash, that you can specialize). You'll also need to change your std::hash to also accept the value rather than the pointer.
Don't over-use pointers in C++, especially not raw pointers. For pass-by-reference, prefer references to pointers (that's a C++-specific meaning of "reference" vs. "pointer"). For containers, the normal default is to use the type directly for content, though there are cases where you might want a pointer (or a smart pointer) instead.
I haven't thoroughly checked your code - there may be more issues than I caught.