segmentation fault in my own STL Memory Allocator - c++11

I cannot list here an MCVE because its too long. I have an issue in my own written STL Memory Allocator but only when it is used in a global object [e.q. not in a function]:
class Heap
{
static FaF::string heapString;
};
FaF::string Heap::heapString( "heapString" );
FaF is my namespace in which string is defined as follows:
namespace FaF
{
using string = std::basic_string<char, std::char_traits<char>, Allocator<char>>;
}
Allocator is my STL Memory Allocator.
In the Allocator template I have this code:
T* allocate (std::size_t num, const void* hint = 0)
{
T * allocatedPointer = static_cast<T*> ( getNextAvailableFreePointer( num ) );
...
The crash is in the function getNextAvailableFreePointer in this line:
mapForMemoryContainer.emplace( alignedMemorySize, MemoryContainer() );
MemoryContainer is just a very simple structure.
My question:
Why does the program crash when a global STL object is using my Allocator? I tested very sophisticated the Allocator class and it works properly [no memory leaks, ..] but under this one condition it crashes.
It crashes even before the 1st line of code in main().
Update:
mapForMemoryContainer is a std::map defined in the base class:
class Allocator_Base
{
public:
Allocator_Base() { printf( "in Allocator_Base constructor\n" ); }
protected:
static std::map<int, MemoryContainer> mapForMemoryContainer;
...
}
And the Allocator template is defined like this:
template <typename T>
class Allocator : public Allocator_Base
{
That's all. The text in Allocator_Base constructor is displayed twice before it crashes.

I summarize now all the comments in something like an answer but the answer belongs to the user n.m.:
It was a static initialization order fiasco (C) n.m.
I implemented his comment in this answer and moved all sensible objects into separate get....() functions.
Now it works like a charm.

Related

Inferencing the typename of 'this' in a virtual method

I am aware of the lack of reflection and basic template mechanics in C++ so the example below can't work. But maybe there's a hack to achieve the intended purpose in another way?
template <typename OwnerClass>
struct Template
{
OwnerClass *owner;
};
struct Base
{
virtual void funct ()
{
Template <decltype(*this)> temp;
// ...
}
};
struct Derived : public Base
{
void whatever ()
{
// supposed to infer this class and use Template<Derived>
// any chance some macro or constexpr magic could help?
funct();
}
};
In the example, Derived::whatever() calls virtual method Base::funct() and wants it to pass its own class name (Derived) to a template. The compiler complains "'owner' declared as a pointer to a reference of type 'Base &'". Not only does decltype(*this) not provide a typename but a reference, the compiler also can't know in advance that funct is called from Derived, which would require funct() to be made a template.
If funct() was a template however, each derived class needs to pass its own name with every call, which is pretty verbose and redundant.
Is there any hack to get around this limitation and make calls to funct() infer the typename of the calling class? Maybe constexpr or macros to help the compiler infer the correct type and reduce verbosity in derived classes?
You should use CRTP Pattern (Curiously Recurring Template Pattern) for inheritance.
Define a base class:
struct CBase {
virtual ~CBase() {}
virtual void function() = 0;
};
Define a prepared to CRTP class:
template<typename T>
struct CBaseCrtp : public CBase {
virtual ~CBaseCrtp() {}
void function() override {
using DerivedType = T;
//do stuff
}
};
Inherit from the CRTP one:
struct Derived : public CBaseCrtp<Derived> {
};
It should work. The only way to know the Derived type is to give it to the base!
Currently, this can't be done. Base is a Base and nothing else at the time Template <decltype(*this)> is instantiated. You are trying to mix the static type system for an inheritance hierarchy inherently not resolved before runtime. This very same mechanism is the reason for not calling virtual member functions of an object during its construction.
At some point, this limitation might change in the future. One step towards this is demonstrated in the Deducing this proposal.

ABI-compatible shared_ptr implementation

I am working on a COM-style complier cross-compatible plugin framework relying on compatible virtual table implementations for ABI compatibility.
I define interfaces containing only pure virtual member functions and an overridden delete operator to channel destruction to the place of implementation.
This works well with extern "C" factory functions instantiating the plugin implementation of the interface and returning an interface-type pointer.
However, I was wondering if smart pointers wouldn't be a more modern way to manage the lifetime of the plugin object. I think I have actually managed to
create a standard-layout shared_ptr/weak_ptr that uses a reference count object defined and implemented the same way as the plugin interfaces.
It looks something like this:
class IRefCount
{
public:
virtual void incRef() = 0;
virtual void decRef() = 0;
virtual bool incRefIfNZ() = 0;
virtual void incWRef() = 0;
virtual void decWRef() = 0;
virtual long uses() const = 0;
protected:
~ref_count_base() = default; //prohibit automatic storage
}
template <typename Ty>
class shared_ptr
{
private:
Ty* ptr_;
IRefCount* ref_count_;
public:
//member functions as defined by C++11 spec
}
Three questions:
Before the smart pointer the factory function looked like this:
extern "C" IPlugin* factory() { try { return new Plugin(); } catch (...) { return nullptr; } }
Now, it looks like this:
extern "C" shared_ptr<IPlugin> factory() { try { return shared_ptr<IPlugin>(new Plugin()); } catch (...) { return nullptr; } }
VS2013 is giving me warning C4190: 'factory' has C-linkage specified, but returns UDT 'shared_ptr' which is incompatible with C. According to MSDN this is OK, provided that both caller and callee are C++.
Are there any other potential issues with returning standard-layout objects from "C" linkage functions?
Calling conventions. Should I be specifying __stdcall for all pure-virtual interface functions and factory functions?
I am using <atomic> for the reference count. I am writing platform-independent code and I have not yet tried compiling for ARM. According to http://infocenter.arm.com/help/index.jsp?topic=/com.arm.doc.dht0008a/ch01s02s01.html armcc does not implement std::atomic. Any better compilers/stl out there?

where should I put the specialized std::hash for user defined type

I searched many pages, and I think I have known how to write the std::hash. But I don't know where to put it.
An example is presented here http://en.cppreference.com/w/cpp/utility/hash .
However, I defined my type Instance in namespace ca in file instance_management.h. I want to use unordered_set<Instance> in the same file in another class InstanceManager. So I write the following code:
namespace std
{
template <> struct hash<ca::Instance>
{
size_t operator()(const ca::Instance & instance) const
{
std::size_t seed = 0;
// Some hash value calculation here.
return seed;
}
};
} // namespace std
But where should I put it? I tried many locations but all failed.
I am using visual studio 2013. I tried to put the previous code in some locations but all failed to compile it.
// location 1
namespace ca
{
class Instance {...}
class InstanceManager
{
// ... some other things.
private unordered_set<Instance>;
}
}
// location 2
There are several ways.
Specializing std::hash
In your code make sure that your std::hash<Instance> specialization is preceded immediately by the Instance class definition, and followed by the use of the unordered_set container that uses it.
namespace ca
{
class Instance {...};
}
namespaces std {
template<> hash<Instance> { ... };
}
namespace ca {
class InstanceManager
{
// ... some other things.
private unordered_set<Instance>;
}
}
One drawback is that you can have funny name lookup interference when passing a std::hash<ca::Instance> to other functions. The reason is that the associated namespace (ca) of all the template arguments of std::hash can be used during name lookup (ADL). Such errors are a bit rare, but if they occur they can be hard to debug.
See this Q&A for more details.
Passing your hash to unordered_set
struct MyInstanceHash { ... };
using MyUnorderedSet = std:unordered_set<Instance, MyInstanceHash>;
Here, you simply pass your own hash function to the container and be done with it. The drawback is that you have to explicitly type your own container.
Using hash_append
Note, however, there is the N3980 Standard proposal is currently pending for review. This proposal features a much superior design that uses a universal hash function that takes an arbitrary byte stream to be hashed by its template parameter (the actual hashing algorithm)
template <class HashAlgorithm>
struct uhash
{
using result_type = typename HashAlgorithm::result_type;
template <class T>
result_type
operator()(T const& t) const noexcept
{
HashAlgorithm h;
using std::hash_append;
hash_append(h, t);
return static_cast<result_type>(h);
}
};
A user-defined class X then has to provide the proper hash_append through which it presents itself as a byte stream, ready to be hashed by the univeral hasher.
class X
{
std::tuple<short, unsigned char, unsigned char> date_;
std::vector<std::pair<int, int>> data_;
public:
// ...
friend bool operator==(X const& x, X const& y)
{
return std::tie(x.date_, x.data_) == std::tie(y.date_, y.data_);
}
// Hook into the system like this
template <class HashAlgorithm>
friend void hash_append(HashAlgorithm& h, X const& x) noexcept
{
using std::hash_append;
hash_append(h, x.date_);
hash_append(h, x.data_);
}
}
For more details, see the presentation by the author #HowardHinnant at CppCon14 (slides, video). Full source code by both the author and Bloomberg is available.
Do not specialise std::hash, instead write your own hash function object (see Edge_Hash below) and declare your unordered_set with two template arguments.
#include <unordered_set>
#include <functional>
namespace foo
{
// an edge is a link between two nodes
struct Edge
{
size_t src, dst;
};
// this is an example of symmetric hash (suitable for undirected graphs)
struct Edge_Hash
{
inline size_t operator() ( const Edge& e ) const
{
static std::hash<size_t> H;
return H(e.src) ^ H(e.dst);
}
};
// this keeps all edges in a set based on their hash value
struct Edge_Set
{
// I think this is what you're trying to do?
std::unordered_set<Edge,Edge_Hash> edges;
};
}
int main()
{
foo::Edge_Set e;
}
Related posts are, eg:
Inserting in unordered_set using custom hash function
Trouble creating custom hash function unordered_map
Thanks to everyone.
I have found the reason and solved the problem somehow: visual studio accepted the InstanceHash when I was defining instances_. Since I was changing the use of set to unordered_set, I forgot to specify InstanceHash when I tried to get the const_iterator, so this time the compiler tried to use the std::hash<> things and failed. But the compiler didn't locate the line using const_iterator, so I mistakenly thought it didn't accept InstanceHash when I was defining instances_.
I also tried to specialize the std::hash<> for class Instance. However, this specialization requires at least the declaration of class ca::Instance and some of its member functions to calculate the hash value. After this specialization, the definition of class ca::InstanceManage will use it.
I now generally put declarations and implementations of almost every classes and member functions together. So, the thing I need to do is probably to split the ca namespace scope to 2 parts and put the std{ template <> struct hash<ca::Instance>{...}} in the middle.

Deep copy constructor with std::vector of smart pointers

Let's say I have a class FooContainer that aggregates unique_ptr objects of type Foo
#include <vector>
#include <memory>
class FooContainer
{
protected:
std::vector<std::unique_ptr<Foo>> many;
//other attributes
public:
FooCoontainer(const FooContainer&);
//handling functions for Foo
};
The question is how to correctly implement deep copy constructor, and what is syntax for it. Simply assigning
FooContainer::FooContainer(const FooContainer& fc)
{
many=fc.many;
}
will attempt to copy the pointers and will be (thankfully) disallowed by the compiler for unique_ptr. so I would need to do something like this
FooContainer::FooContainer(const FooContainer& fc)
{
many.reserve(fc.many.size());
for(int i=0;i<fc.many.size();i++)
many.emplace_back(new Foo(*fc.many[i]));//assume that Foo has a copy constructor
}
Is this the way to do it? Or may be I should use shared_ptr instead of unique_ptr?
I also have an additional question.
The reason to go for smart pointers (and also for protected in the code above) is that I have derived class BarContainer that aggregates objects Bar in many, which are in turn subclass of Foo. Since the the handling of Bar is very similar to Foo this approach will allow to save a lot of duplicate code compared to two separate classes.
However,. the copy constructor of the BarContainer is problematic. It will the call copy constructor of FooContainer, that will go agead and copy only the Foo part instead of whole Bar. even worse, any invocation of the virtual methods of Bar will call the version of Foo.
So I need a way to override this behaviour.Making the copy constructor virtual is not possible.
Also the copy constructor of Bar could discard the result of Foo copy constructor and to dperform correct copying, but this is quite inefficient
So what is the best solution for this problem?
Or may be I should use shared_ptr instead of unique_ptr?
That depends on whether you require deep copies or are okay with shallow copies (meaning changes to one will also be visible in the other).
However,. the copy constructor of the BarContainer is problematic. It will the call copy constructor of FooContainer, that will go agead and copy only the Foo part instead of whole Bar.
The usual fix is to give your base class a virtual method clone:
class Foo {
public:
Foo(Foo&&) = default;
Foo& operator=(Foo&&) = default;
virtual ~Foo() = 0;
virtual std::unique_ptr<Foo> clone() const = 0;
protected: // or public if appropriate
Foo(const Foo&);
Foo& operator=(const Foo&);
};
class Bar : public Foo {
public:
virtual std::unique_ptr<Foo> clone() const;
};
std::unique_ptr<Foo> Bar::clone() const {
return make_unique<Bar>(*this);
}
If Foo is not abstract, it would also have an actual implementation of clone().
FooContainer::FooContainer(const FooContainer& fc)
{
many.reserve(fc.many.size());
for (auto const& fptr : fc.many)
many.emplace_back(fptr->clone());
}
I've used a template function make_unique, which was accidentally forgotten from the C++11 Standard, but will be official soon. If your compiler doesn't have one, it's simple to put your own in some header file:
template <typename T, typename... Args>
std::unique_ptr<T> make_unique(Args&& ... args) {
return std::unique_ptr<T>( new T(std::forward<Args>(args)...) );
}
(Together, unique_ptr, make_unique, shared_ptr, make_shared, and vector finish the huge language improvement meaning you'll almost never need the low-level and dangerous new or delete keywords again.)

Replacement of Poco::AutoPtr with boost

I am trying to replace Poco::AutoPtr with some alternative in boost. Here is what I have discovered so far:
What I have: below classess are being used with Poco::AutoPtr. They need to implement reference counted method with implementing duplicate() and release() methods.
I am using above referece_counted.h and Poco::AutoPtr in a complex class hierarchy with multiple inheritance and c++ diamond problems.
A simplified version of classes would look something like this
class A : virtual public ReferenceCounted
{
...
}
class B : public A
{
...
}
class C : public A
{
...
}
class D : public A, B
{
...
}
and the list goes on for few more level deep. I know that this needs to be refactored with a simplified hierarchy but I wanna remove Poco::AutoPtr first with proper replacement in boost:
What I have found so far:
I have found that boost::intrusive_ptr is the closest smart pointer that can be a good replacement of Poco::AutoPtr.
I am however not able to implement the proper solution with this because the intrusive_ptr requires intrusive_ptr_add_ref and intrusive_ptr_release methods created specifically for each class with which I need to use the pointer. I tried using templates but still not having proper solution at hand.
Also one more issue is that I need to typecast from base to derived class many times.
is intrusive_ptr is the correct smart pointer for this usage ? and if yes.. can anybody give me suggestion regarding how to use the same ?
I am however not able to implement the proper solution with this
because the intrusive_ptr requires intrusive_ptr_add_ref and
intrusive_ptr_release methods created specifically for each class with
which I need to use the pointer.
No-no. It is should not be hard. As Boost documentation says:
On compilers that support argument-dependent lookup,
intrusive_ptr_add_ref and intrusive_ptr_release should be defined in
the namespace that corresponds to their parameter; otherwise, the
definitions need to go in namespace boost.
Try this: main.cpp (built ok with "g++ main.cpp -o main -lboost_system")
#include <boost/intrusive_ptr.hpp>
class MyObject
{
public:
void duplicate(){
// ...
}
void release(){
// ...
}
};
namespace boost {
template <class T>
void intrusive_ptr_add_ref( T * po ) {
po->duplicate(); // your internal realization
}
template <class T>
void intrusive_ptr_release( T * po ) {
po->release();
}
}
int main(int argc, char **argv)
{
// ...
boost::intrusive_ptr<MyObject> ptr( new MyObject );
boost::intrusive_ptr<MyObject> ptr2 = ptr; // should work
}

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