[OOP - Lec 19] Static Member Functions

[OOP - Lec 19] Static Member Functions

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  Static Member Functions MuhammadHammad Waseem m.hammad.wasim@gmail.com
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  Introduction • In previouslecture we introduced static data members. • As you may recall, • a static data member is not duplicated for each object; rather a single data item is shared by all objects of a class. • Let’s extend this concept by showing how functions as well as data may be static.
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  Static Function • Atype of member function that can be accessed without any object of class is called static function. • Normally, a member function of any class cannot be accessed or executed without creating an object of that class. • In some situations, a member function has to be executed without referencing any object. • The static data members of a class are not created for each object. • The class creates only one data member for all objects. • The static data member is defined when the program is executed. • The program may require to access a static data member before creating an object. • The static member functions can be used to access a static data member.
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  Accessing Static Functions •When a data member is declared static, there is only one such data value for the entire class, no matter how many objects of the class are created. • We shouldn’t need to refer to a specific object when we’re doing something that relates to the entire class. • It’s more reasonable to use the name of the class itself with the scope- resolution operator. • class_name::static_FuncName(); • However, this won’t work on a normal member function; an object and the dot member-access operator are required in such cases. • To access function using only the class name, we must declare it to be a static member function.
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  Example 1 class Test { private: staticint n; public: static void show() { cout<<“n = “<<n<<endl; } }; int Test::n=10; void main() { Test::show(); getch(); } Output: n = 10
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  How above ProgramWorks • The above program declares a class Test with a static data member n. • The following statement defines the data member with an initial value of 10; • int Test::n=10; • The static data member exists in the memory even before creating any object. • The program also declares a static member function show() that displays the value of a. • The program calls the static member function without creating any objet of the class as follows: • Test::show();
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  Example 2 class yahoo { private: staticint n; public: Yahoo() {n++;} static void show() { cout<<“you’ve created“<<n<<“ objects so far”<<endl; } }; int yahoo::n=0; void main() { yahoo::show(); yahoo x,y; x.show(); yahoo z; x.show(); getch(); } Output: You’ve created 0 objects so far You’ve created 2 objects so far You’ve created 3 objects so far
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  How above ProgramWorks • The above program declares a static data member n to count the number of objects that have been created. • The following statement defines variable: int yahoo::n=0; • The above statement defines the variable and initializes it to 0. • The above program creates three objects x, y and z. Each time an object is created the constructor is executed that increases the value of n by 1. • The program also declares a static member function show() that displays the value of data member. • It can be accessed directly by using class name followed by scope resolution operator :: and function name as: yahoo::show();