CS253 Casting

Caution

Casting is generally a mistake.
If you find yourself doing it, you probably screwed up.
Reconsider your actions.
Sometimes, you have to do it.

Overview

C-style casting: (type) value
Constructor “casting”: type(value)
const_cast<type>(value)
static_cast<type>(value)
dynamic_cast<type>(value)
reinterpret_cast<type>(value)

C-style casting

In C, casting worked like this:

float f = 3.14;
unsigned char *p = &f;
printf("%02x %02x %02x %02x\n", p[0], p[1], p[2], p[3]);

c.c: In function 'main':
c.c:2: warning: initialization of 'unsigned char *' from incompatible pointer type 'float *'
c3 f5 48 40

float f = 3.14;
unsigned char *p = (unsigned char *) &f;
printf("%02x %02x %02x %02x\n", p[0], p[1], p[2], p[3]);

c3 f5 48 40

This works in C++, but it’s discouraged. Detect with g++ -Wold-style-cast.

Constructor “casting”

This isn’t really casting, but sure is similar:

int n;
n = int(3.14);
cout << "n is " << n << '\n';

n is 3

Of course, an actual programmer would just do this, even though a fussy compiler might issue a warning:

int n = 3.14;
cout << "n is " << n << '\n';

n is 3

With absolute power comes bad code

The problem with C-style casting is that it’s too powerful. It’s an “anything goes” sort of operation:

long l = (long) "Krypto the Superdog";
cout << l << '\n';

C++ casting

In C++, it was decided to break up the vast power of the C-style cast into separate tools:

const_cast<type>(value): remove constness
static_cast<type>(value): usual conversions
dynamic_cast<type>(value): object type conversion
reinterpret_cast<type>(value): go nuts

`const_cast`

const_cast<type>(value): remove constness

char *p = "hello";
cout << p;

c.cc:1: warning: ISO C++ forbids converting a string constant to 'char*'
hello

char *p = const_cast<char *>("hello");
cout << p;

hello

double *p = const_cast<double *>("hello");
cout << p;

c.cc:1: error: invalid const_cast from type 'const char*' to type 'double*'

Similarly, for references.

`static_cast`

static_cast<type>(value): usual conversions

double d = 3.15;
int i = static_cast<int>(d);
cout << i;

int i = static_cast<int>("123");
cout << i;

c.cc:1: error: invalid static_cast from type 'const char [4]' to type 'int'

`dynamic_cast`

dynamic_cast<type>(value): object type conversion

class Base {
  public:
    virtual void foo() { }
};
class Derived : public Base { };

Base b, *bp = &b;
Derived *dp = dynamic_cast<Derived *>(bp);
if (dp == nullptr)
    cout << "Conversion failed.\n";
else
    cout << "Conversion succeeded.\n";

Conversion failed.

`reinterpret_cast`

reinterpret_cast<type>(value): go nuts

double avo = 6.022e23;
int n = *reinterpret_cast<int *>(&avo);
cout << n << endl;
long l = reinterpret_cast<long>(&avo);
cout << l << endl;
int *p = reinterpret_cast<int *>(42);
cout << *p << endl;

-195565037
140730889985264
SIGSEGV: Segmentation fault

CS253: Software Development with C++

Spring 2018

Casting