Question

I am trying to run an old C++ code in Linux (Redhat). I am using gcc version 4.1.2.
here is the code sample where i am getting error :

           template <class TP> TP *GCVVector<TP>::Find(const TP &Obj)
        {
        #ifdef WIN32
                using namespace std;
                typedef typename vector<TP>::iterator Viterator;
        #else
        #ifdef __HP_aCC 
                using namespace std;
                typedef typename vector<TP>::iterator Viterator;
        #else
                using namespace std;
                typedef typename std::vector<TP>::iterator Viterator;
        #endif
        #endif

                Viterator pCurrent =NULL ;

The error i am getting is this :

         /trnuser1/rmtrain/DevelopmentEnv/Generic/CoreObjects/GCVVector.h: In member          function âTP* GCVVector<TP>::Find(const TP&) [with TP = GCVAsso<GCVString, GCVString>::KeyNode]â:
        /trnuser1/rmtrain/DevelopmentEnv/Generic/CoreObjects/GCVAsso.h:165:   instantiated from âbool GCVAsso<KTP, VTP>::Add(KTP, VTP) [with KTP = GCVString, VTP = GCVString]â
        /trnuser1/rmtrain/DevelopmentEnv/Generic/CoreObjects/GCVTransformationServices.h:69:   instantiated from here
         /trnuser1/rmtrain/DevelopmentEnv/Generic/CoreObjects/GCVVector.h:398: error: conversion from âlong intâ to non-scalar type â__gnu_cxx::__normal_iterator<GCVAsso<GCVString, GCVString>::KeyNode*, std::vector<GCVAsso<GCVString, GCVString>::KeyNode, std::allocator<GCVAsso<GCVString, GCVString>::KeyNode> > >â requested
           /trnuser1/rmtrain/DevelopmentEnv/Generic/CoreObjects/GCVAsso.h:165:   instantiated from âbool GCVAsso<KTP, VTP>::Add(KTP, VTP) [with KTP = GCVString, VTP = GCVString]â
        /trnuser1/rmtrain/DevelopmentEnv/Generic/CoreObjects/GCVTransformationServices.h:69:   instantiated from here
        /trnuser1/rmtrain/DevelopmentEnv/Generic/CoreObjects/GCVVector.h:403: error: no match for âoperator=â in âpCurrent = GCVVector<TP>::BinarySearch [with TP = GCVAsso<GCVString, GCVString>::KeyNode](0l, (GCVVector<TP>::GetSize [with TP = GCVAsso<GCVString, GCVString>::KeyNode]() - 1l), ((const GCVAsso<GCVString, GCVString>::KeyNode&)((const GCVAsso<GCVString, GCVString>::KeyNode*)Obj)))â
        /usr/lib/gcc/x86_64-redhat-   linux/4.1.2/../../../../include/c++/4.1.2/bits/stl_iterator.h:634: note: candidates are: __gnu_cxx::__normal_iterator<GCVAsso<GCVString, GCVString>::KeyNode*, std::vector<GCVAsso<GCVString, GCVString>::KeyNode, std::allocator<GCVAsso<GCVString, GCVString>::KeyNode> > >& __gnu_cxx::__normal_iterator<GCVAsso<GCVString,         GCVString>::KeyNode*, std::vector<GCVAsso<GCVString, GCVString>::KeyNode, std::allocator<GCVAsso<GCVString, GCVString>::KeyNode> > >::operator=(const __gnu_cxx::__normal_iterator<GCVAsso<GCVString, GCVString>::KeyNode*, std::vector<GCVAsso<GCVString, GCVString>::KeyNode, std::allocator<GCVAsso<GCVString, GCVString>::KeyNode> > >&)
        make[2]: ***    [CMakeFiles/GCVCore.dir/trnuser1/rmtrain/DevelopmentEnv/Generic/CoreObjects/GCVTransformationServices.o] Error 1
        make[1]: *** [CMakeFiles/GCVCore.dir/all] Error 2

Answer 1

The original code was written against an STL where std::vector<T>::iterator was a raw pointer and so could be (and needed to be) initialised to NULL.

For full compatibility, change the line to

Viterator pCurrent = Viterator();

In C++11, you can use

Viterator pCurrent{};

By full compatibility it is meant here that Viterator may be simply a bare pointer. In such a case, explicitly setting it to a default-constructed value will set it to NULL. Below is a simple example to demonstrate it.

#include <iostream>

typedef void * Iterator;

int main(int, char**)
{
  Iterator v1, v2=Iterator();
  std::cout << "uninitialized pointer: " << v1 << "\ninitialized pointer: " << v2 << std::endl;
}

The output is:

uninitialized pointer: 0x7fff5fc01052
initialized pointer: 0

Note that the program may still be incorrect if it does anything with pCurrent, other than assigning it a new value (it would be valid to compare it against itself, or another iterator initialised by copying it, but comparing against a non-singular iterator, or a separately default value-constructed iterator would be undefined).