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A List Class Library for C++ - List(3C++)

Queue-oriented operations

This group of functions treats a List as a queue. The primary operators are put() and get(), which correspond to << and >> on streams. We also supply unput() and unget(), which make it possible to use a List as a stack or deque. In addition, head() and tail() can be used to examine the elements at the beginning and at the end of the List without removing them. Figure 1 shows the relationships of the queue-oriented functions. They allow new Ts to be added or removed at either end of the List<T>. put() and unget(), the operators that add Ts to the List, can also take List<T> arguments, so they serve as append and prepend operators (correspondingly) as well.

Queue-oriented functions

Head

L.head() returns a pointer to the element at the head of the List L. If the List is empty, zero will be returned.

Tail

L.tail() returns a pointer to the element at the tail of the List L. If the List is empty, zero will be returned.

Put

L.put(t) puts T t on the end of List L and L.put(l) appends List l to L. put() returns its updated object so L.put(t1).put(t2) will append t1 and t2 to L.

Get

If L is non-empty, L.get(t) gets (and removes) the first element from L, assigns it to t, and returns TRUE. Otherwise, L and t are unchanged, and the return value is FALSE.

Unget

L.unget(t) undoes the effect of L.get(t) (which removes the first character from L); that is, it puts t back on the front (got that?) of L. In another sense, unget() is the reverse of put() since it prepends rather than appends to its object. The type rules are exactly the same as for put(). unget() returns its object.

Unput

L.unput(t) undoes the effect of L.put(t) (which appends t to L); that is, it gets (and removes) the last element from L, and assigns it to t. Similarly, in another sense, unput() is the reverse of get() since it removes the last (instead of the first) element of its List.

Versions of get() and unput() exist that do not take an argument. They remove an element from the List and return it, if the List is non-empty. If the List is empty, this is considered a program bug and the result may be unexpected (see "Error handling" below). It is the application's responsibility to make sure that the List is not empty.

The original remove() function at the beginning of the paper is an example of the use of put() and get(). A stack can be easily constructed using put() and unput() in the following way:

   class int_stack : List<int>
   {
   public:
            int_stack() {}
           ~int_stack() {}
      int   empty()   { return length() == 0; }
      int   pop()     { int x; if (!unput(x)) error();
                               else return x; }
      void  push(int x) { put(x); }
   }; 

Clearly, unget() and get() could have been used instead of put() and unput().


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