Project 3 – Templated Vector Class

ECE4893/8893
Project 3 – Templated Vector Class

Overview For this project, we will implement a templated class called Vector that is essentially a variable length
array. The Vector can grow as necessary as new elements are added to the array. Further we will implement a
iterator called VectorIterator that exists to “refer to”, or “point to” an existing element in the Vector. The
required API’s are specifed in the provided Vector.h file.
Copying the Project Skeletons
1. Log into jinx-login.cc using ssh and your prism log-in name.
2. Copy the files from the ECE8893 user account using the following command:
/usr/bin/rsync -avu /nethome/ECE8893/Vector .
Be sure to notice the period at the end of the above command.
3. Change your working directory to Vector
cd Vector
4. Copy the provided Vector-skeleton.cc to Vector.cc as follows:
cp Vector-skeleton.cc Vector.cc
5. If you are an undergraduate, comment out the definition of GRAD STUDENT in Vector.h.
6. Then edit Vector.cc to implement your Vector and VectorIterator
7. Compile your code using make as follows:
make
8. This builds a program called testVec that has eight different test cases to test your implementation.
9. Once you have gotten the program compiled and ready to test, you can begin running the tests. Running
testVec with no arguments runs all tests; running with a single argument is assumed to be the test number
you want to run. Grad students must run all eight tests, undergrads only need tests 1-6. You should consider
debugging by running one test at a time.
Resources
1. Vector-skeleton.cc is a starting point for your program.
2. Vector.h describes the classes and required API.
3. testVec.cc is the test program to test your implementation.
4. String.h and String.cc are used by the testing program. You should not need to edit either of these.
5. Makefile is the makefile for the testVec program.
6. expected-alltests.txt is the expected output from running all tests.
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Checking for Memory Leaks An important requirement for this assignment is to properly manage memory and to
have NO MEMORY LEAKS. On the jinx–login system, you can run the valgrind program, which give detailed
memory usage statistics and leak statistics. Run valgrind as follows:
/opt/valgrind-3.7.0/bin/valgrind --tool=memcheck testVec (your test number here)
At the end of the execution, valgrind prints a summary of the memory leaks. You are hoping for the message
All heap blocks were freed -- no leaks are possible. If you have memory leaks, you will only
get half credit for the particular test (see the section below on grading).
In–Place new and delete Recall that we said in class that the new operator, by default, does two separate and
independent things. First is to find some memory to store the new object, and second is to call the constructor for the
object. In this assignment, you will often want to call a constructor, but to use existing memory. This is called an
in–place new. The syntax is:
new (address) constructor
The address is the address of an existing memory region where the new object will be stored. The constructor
is the constructor (default, copy, etc) to use.
Similarly, the delete operator does two independent things. First is to call the destructor for the object, and the
second is to free the memory associated with the object. Again, in this assignment you will frequently want to call the
destructor for an object, but do not want the memory freed. Given an object of type T, the syntax for in–place delete
is:
object.˜T(); or objPointer-˜T();
Here, object is a variable of type T and objPointer is a pointer to an object of type T.
Grading For undergrads, there are six individual tests, worth 20 points each. For graduates, there are eight test
worth 15 points each. In both cases, the total possible is 120 points (this is a very difficult assignment!). If you get the
right answer but have memory leaks, you will get half credit for the particular test.
Using the GNU Debugger The GNU debugger gdb is invaluable in debugging this assignment. We will discuss
gdb and other issues for this assignment in the next class lecture, Wed Oct 19.
Turning in your Project. The system administrator for the jinx cluster has created a script that you are to use to turn
in your project. The script is called riley-turnin and is found in /usr/local/bin, which should be in the
search path for everyone. From your home directory (not the Vector subdirectory), enter:
riley-turnin Vector.
This automatically copies everything in your Vector directory to a place that I can access (and grade) it.
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