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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" /><title>Chapter 4.  Support</title><meta name="generator" content="DocBook XSL Stylesheets Vsnapshot" /><meta name="keywords" content="ISO C++, library" /><meta name="keywords" content="ISO C++, runtime, library" /><link rel="home" href="../index.html" title="The GNU C++ Library" /><link rel="up" href="std_contents.html" title="Part II.  Standard Contents" /><link rel="prev" href="std_contents.html" title="Part II.  Standard Contents" /><link rel="next" href="dynamic_memory.html" title="Dynamic Memory" /></head><body><div class="navheader"><table width="100%" summary="Navigation header"><tr><th colspan="3" align="center">Chapter 4. 
  Support
  
</th></tr><tr><td width="20%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="std_contents.html">Prev</a> </td><th width="60%" align="center">Part II. 
    Standard Contents
  </th><td width="20%" align="right"> <a accesskey="n" href="dynamic_memory.html">Next</a></td></tr></table><hr /></div><div class="chapter"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title"><a id="std.support"></a>Chapter 4. 
  Support
  <a id="id-1.3.4.2.1.1.1" class="indexterm"></a>
</h2></div></div></div><div class="toc"><p><strong>Table of Contents</strong></p><dl class="toc"><dt><span class="section"><a href="support.html#std.support.types">Types</a></span></dt><dd><dl><dt><span class="section"><a href="support.html#std.support.types.fundamental">Fundamental Types</a></span></dt><dt><span class="section"><a href="support.html#std.support.types.numeric_limits">Numeric Properties</a></span></dt><dt><span class="section"><a href="support.html#std.support.types.null">NULL</a></span></dt></dl></dd><dt><span class="section"><a href="dynamic_memory.html">Dynamic Memory</a></span></dt><dt><span class="section"><a href="termination.html">Termination</a></span></dt><dd><dl><dt><span class="section"><a href="termination.html#support.termination.handlers">Termination Handlers</a></span></dt><dt><span class="section"><a href="termination.html#support.termination.verbose">Verbose Terminate Handler</a></span></dt></dl></dd></dl></div><p>
    This part deals with the functions called and objects created
    automatically during the course of a program's existence.
  </p><p>
    While we can't reproduce the contents of the Standard here (you
    need to get your own copy from your nation's member body; see our
    homepage for help), we can mention a couple of changes in what
    kind of support a C++ program gets from the Standard Library.
  </p><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title" style="clear: both"><a id="std.support.types"></a>Types</h2></div></div></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h3 class="title"><a id="std.support.types.fundamental"></a>Fundamental Types</h3></div></div></div><p>
      C++ has the following builtin types:
    </p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: disc; "><li class="listitem"><p>
	char
      </p></li><li class="listitem"><p>
	signed char
      </p></li><li class="listitem"><p>
	unsigned char
      </p></li><li class="listitem"><p>
	signed short
      </p></li><li class="listitem"><p>
	signed int
      </p></li><li class="listitem"><p>
	signed long
      </p></li><li class="listitem"><p>
	unsigned short
      </p></li><li class="listitem"><p>
	unsigned int
      </p></li><li class="listitem"><p>
	unsigned long
      </p></li><li class="listitem"><p>
	bool
      </p></li><li class="listitem"><p>
	wchar_t
      </p></li><li class="listitem"><p>
	float
      </p></li><li class="listitem"><p>
	double
      </p></li><li class="listitem"><p>
	long double
      </p></li></ul></div><p>
      These fundamental types are always available, without having to
      include a header file. These types are exactly the same in
      either C++ or in C.
    </p><p>
      Specializing parts of the library on these types is prohibited:
      instead, use a POD.
    </p></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h3 class="title"><a id="std.support.types.numeric_limits"></a>Numeric Properties</h3></div></div></div><p>
    The header <code class="filename">limits</code> defines
    traits classes to give access to various implementation
    defined-aspects of the fundamental types. The traits classes --
    fourteen in total -- are all specializations of the template class
    <code class="classname">numeric_limits</code>, documented <a class="link" href="http://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/libstdc++/latest-doxygen/a00593.html" target="_top">here</a>
    and defined as follows:
    </p><pre class="programlisting">
   template&lt;typename T&gt;
     struct class
     {
       static const bool is_specialized;
       static T max() throw();
       static T min() throw();

       static const int digits;
       static const int digits10;
       static const bool is_signed;
       static const bool is_integer;
       static const bool is_exact;
       static const int radix;
       static T epsilon() throw();
       static T round_error() throw();

       static const int min_exponent;
       static const int min_exponent10;
       static const int max_exponent;
       static const int max_exponent10;

       static const bool has_infinity;
       static const bool has_quiet_NaN;
       static const bool has_signaling_NaN;
       static const float_denorm_style has_denorm;
       static const bool has_denorm_loss;
       static T infinity() throw();
       static T quiet_NaN() throw();
       static T denorm_min() throw();

       static const bool is_iec559;
       static const bool is_bounded;
       static const bool is_modulo;

       static const bool traps;
       static const bool tinyness_before;
       static const float_round_style round_style;
     };
   </pre></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h3 class="title"><a id="std.support.types.null"></a>NULL</h3></div></div></div><p>
     The only change that might affect people is the type of
     <code class="constant">NULL</code>: while it is required to be a macro,
     the definition of that macro is <span class="emphasis"><em>not</em></span> allowed
     to be <code class="constant">(void*)0</code>, which is often used in C.
    </p><p>
     For <span class="command"><strong>g++</strong></span>, <code class="constant">NULL</code> is
     <code class="code">#define</code>'d to be
     <code class="constant">__null</code>, a magic keyword extension of
     <span class="command"><strong>g++</strong></span>.
    </p><p>
     The biggest problem of #defining <code class="constant">NULL</code> to be
     something like <span class="quote">“<span class="quote">0L</span>”</span> is that the compiler will view
     that as a long integer before it views it as a pointer, so
     overloading won't do what you expect. (This is why
     <span class="command"><strong>g++</strong></span> has a magic extension, so that
     <code class="constant">NULL</code> is always a pointer.)
    </p><p>In his book <a class="link" href="http://www.aristeia.com/books.html" target="_top"><span class="emphasis"><em>Effective
      C++</em></span></a>, Scott Meyers points out that the best way
    to solve this problem is to not overload on pointer-vs-integer
    types to begin with.  He also offers a way to make your own magic
    <code class="constant">NULL</code> that will match pointers before it
    matches integers.
    </p><p>See the
      <a class="link" href="http://www.aristeia.com/books.html" target="_top"><span class="emphasis"><em>Effective
      C++ CD</em></span></a> example.
    </p></div></div></div><div class="navfooter"><hr /><table width="100%" summary="Navigation footer"><tr><td width="40%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="std_contents.html">Prev</a> </td><td width="20%" align="center"><a accesskey="u" href="std_contents.html">Up</a></td><td width="40%" align="right"> <a accesskey="n" href="dynamic_memory.html">Next</a></td></tr><tr><td width="40%" align="left" valign="top">Part II. 
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