Question

I would like to allocate and array of classes on the stack without calling the constructor. The following example clarifys:

template<class t,int SetNum> class set
{
private:
    t Storage[SetNum];
};

class myClass
{
private:
    int* Array;
public:
    myClass()
    {
        Array=new int[10];
    }
}
int main()
{
    set<myClass,10> Set;
}

I do not want to allocate the 10 new ints for Array that occurs when myClass‘s constructor is called, but still want the space allocated for myClass.

Answer 1

You have to have an array of unsigned chars (or such) to use as “backing storage” for your elements, and then call the placement new operator (see e.g. here) to construct your instances there (which, by the way, is what std::vector already does).

Warning: if you use placement new you have the responsibility to deallocate manually the objects you created with it, calling explicitly the destructor; also, the pointer you pass to placement new must be properly aligned for the objects you are creating, otherwise bad stuff may happen.

See also this question.

---

Example of a twisted mix of std::array and std::vector built with the techniques described (requires C++11 for the union trick to work):

#include <cstddef>
#include <memory>
#include <stdexcept>
#include <iostream>

template<typename T, std::size_t N>
class array_noinit
{
    union storage_helper
    {
    private:
        // this member assures that the storage is properly aligned
        T t;
    public:
        unsigned char storage[sizeof(T)*N];

        // needed because T's constructor/destructor is implicitly deleted
        storage_helper() { };
        ~storage_helper() { };
    };

    storage_helper s;

    std::size_t _size;
    T * _storage;
public:
    array_noinit() :
        _size(0), _storage((T*)s.storage)
    {}

    ~array_noinit()
    {
        while(_size>0)
            pop_back();
    }

    void push_back(const T & elem)
    {
        if(_size>=N)
            throw std::runtime_error("Not enough capacity.");
        new(_storage+_size) T(elem);
        _size++;
    }

    void pop_back()
    {
        if(_size>0)
        {
            _size--;
            _storage[_size].~T();
        }
    }

    T & at(std::size_t Idx)
    {
        if(Idx>=_size)
            throw std::out_of_range("Idx out of range.");
        return _storage[Idx];
    }

    std::size_t size() const
    {
        return _size;
    }

    std::size_t capacity() const
    {
        return N;
    }
};

class A
{
    int _i;
public:
    A(int i) : _i(i)
    {
        std::cout<<"In A constructor - "<<_i<<"\n";
    }

    A(const A & right)
        : _i(right._i)
    {
        std::cout<<"In A copy constructor - "<<_i<<"\n";
    }

    ~A()
    {
        std::cout<<"In A destructor - "<<_i<<"\n";
    }
};

int main()
{
    std::cout<<"With ints\n";
    array_noinit<int, 4> arr;
    arr.push_back(1);
    arr.push_back(2);
    arr.push_back(3);
    arr.push_back(4);

    for(std::size_t i=0; i<4; i++)
        std::cout<<arr.at(i)<<" ";
    std::cout<<"\n";

    std::cout<<"With a class - we don't add anything\n";
    array_noinit<A, 10> arr2;

    std::cout<<"With a class - now we add stuff\n";
    array_noinit<A, 10> arr3;
    arr3.push_back(A(1));
    arr3.push_back(A(2));
    arr3.push_back(A(3));
    return 0;
}

Output:

With ints
1 2 3 4 
With a class - we don't add anything
With a class - now we add stuff
In A constructor - 1
In A copy constructor - 1
In A destructor - 1
In A constructor - 2
In A copy constructor - 2
In A destructor - 2
In A constructor - 3
In A copy constructor - 3
In A destructor - 3
In A destructor - 3
In A destructor - 2
In A destructor - 1

---

Edit there’s a much simpler way to get aligned storage.