Question

I am trying to write simple Binary Search tree class (BST).

When I add a single node (eg.value = 10), the root gets updated and I verified using the VS C++ debugger at the end of BST::insert(…).

Then I tried to display (Case statement 3) the node(value -10) and nothing gets printed. The reason is that, when getRoot() is called, the root is NULL (??!!!)

Can someone please help me debug this issue.

#include <iostream>
#include <stdio.h>
#include "bst_node.h"

class BST{
private:
    bst_node *root;

public:
    bst_node* getRoot();
    void insert(bst_node *, int val);
    void deleteValue(int val);
    void display(bst_node *);
    void destroy();

    BST()
    {
        root = NULL;
        std::cout<<"BST constructor"<<"\n";
    }

    ~BST()
    {
        std::cout<<"BST destructor"<<"\n";
    }
};

int main()
{
    int item;
    int choice;
    BST tree1;
    while(1)
    {
        printf("\n Choices are:\n");
        printf("\n 1.Insertbeg\n\n 2.deleteNode\n\n 3.display\n\n 4.exit\n\n");
        printf(" Enter U'r choice: ");
        scanf("%d",&choice);
        switch(choice)
        {
            case 1: 
                {
                    printf("Enter element to be inserted: ");
                    scanf("%d",&item);
                    tree1.insert(tree1.getRoot(), item); 
                    break;
                }
            case 2:
                {
                    printf("Enter element to be deleted: ");
                    scanf("%d",&item);
//                  tree1.deleteValue(item); 
                    break;
                }
            case 3:
                {
                    tree1.display(tree1.getRoot()); 
                    break;
                }
            case 4: 
                    exit(1);
                    break;
            default: printf("INVALID CHOICE TRY AGAIN\n");
        }
    }
}

void BST::insert(bst_node* root, int val)
{
    if( root == NULL)
    {
        // add first element 
        bst_node *new_node = bst_node::create_empty_node();
        new_node->val = val;
        root = new_node;
    }

    else if(val < root->val )
    {
        insert(root->l_child, val); 
    }

    else if (val >= root->val)
    {
        insert(root->r_child, val);
    }
}

void BST::display(bst_node *root)
{
    if(root == NULL)
    {
        return;
    }
    else
    {
        std::cout << root->val <<"\n";
        display(root->l_child);
        display(root->r_child);
    }
}

void BST::deleteValue(int val)
{
    std::cout<< " Do nothing";
}

bst_node* BST::getRoot()
{
    return root;
}

bst_node.h

---

class bst_node
{
public:
    int val;
    bst_node *l_child;
    bst_node *r_child;
    static bst_node* create_empty_node();
};

bst_node* bst_node::create_empty_node()
{
    bst_node *new_node;
    new_node = new bst_node;
    new_node -> l_child = new_node -> r_child = NULL;
    return(new_node);
}

Answer 1

You are hiding the private member root by naming the argument to insert() root as well. All modifications to root will apply on the local variable. For example the line:

root = new_node;

will have no affect. You are setting a new value to a vriable that is never used again.

Doing so is usually a bad practice (with some exceptions, such as setters). Try to rename and check if it solves at least some of your issues.