Lecture 05: Preprocessing CS 112: Object-Oriented Programming
Preprocessing
Dr. Zahid Halim
Ghulam Ishaq Khan Institute of Engineering Sciences and Technology, Topi
Lecture 05: Preprocessing CS 112: Object-Oriented Programming
Introduction
• preprocessing
– occurs before a program is compiled.
– inclusion of other files
– definition of symbolic constants and macros,
– conditional compilation of program code
– conditional execution of preprocessor directives
• Format of preprocessor directives:
– lines begin with #
– only whitespace characters before directives on a
line
– they are not C++ statements - no semicolon (;)
Ghulam Ishaq Khan Institute of Engineering Sciences and Technology, Topi
Lecture 05: Preprocessing CS 112: Object-Oriented Programming
The #include Preprocessor Directive
• #include
– copy of a specified file included in place of the directive
#include <filename> - searches standard library for
file (use for standard library files)
#include "filename" - searches current directory,
then standard library (use for user-
defined files)
• Used for
– loading header files (#include <iostream>)
– programs with multiple source files to be compiled together
– header file - has common declarations and definitions
(classes, structures, function prototypes)
• #include statement in each file
Ghulam Ishaq Khan Institute of Engineering Sciences and Technology, Topi
Lecture 05: Preprocessing CS 112: Object-Oriented Programming
The #define Preprocessor Directive: Symbolic
Constants
• #define
– preprocessor directive used to create symbolic constants and macros.
• Symbolic constants
– when program compiled, all occurrences of symbolic constant replaced
with replacement text
• Format: #define identifier replacement-text
– Example: #define PI 3.14159
– everything to right of identifier replaces text
#define PI = 3.14159
• replaces "PI" with " = 3.14159", probably results in an error
– cannot redefine symbolic constants with more #define statements
Ghulam Ishaq Khan Institute of Engineering Sciences and Technology, Topi
Lecture 05: Preprocessing CS 112: Object-Oriented Programming
The #define Preprocessor Directive: Macros
• Macro - operation defined in #define
– intended for C programs
– macro without arguments: treated like a symbolic constant
– macro with arguments: arguments substituted for
replacement text, macro expanded
– performs a text substitution - no data type checking
Example:
#define CIRCLE_AREA( x ) ( PI * ( x ) * ( x ) )
area = CIRCLE_AREA( 4 );
becomes
area = ( 3.14159 * ( 4 ) * ( 4 ) );
Ghulam Ishaq Khan Institute of Engineering Sciences and Technology, Topi
Lecture 05: Preprocessing CS 112: Object-Oriented Programming
The #define Preprocessor Directive: Macros
(II)
• use parenthesis:
– without them,
#define CIRCLE_AREA( x ) PI * x * x
area = CIRCLE_AREA( c + 2 );
becomes
area = 3.14159 * c + 2 * c + 2;
which evaluates incorrectly
• multiple arguments:
#define RECTANGLE_AREA( x, y ) ( ( x ) * ( y ) )
rectArea = RECTANGLE_AREA( a + 4, b + 7 );
becomes
rectArea = ( ( a + 4 ) * ( b + 7 ) );
• #undef
– undefines a symbolic constant or macro, which can later be
redefined
– #define WIDTH 80
– #define ADD( X, Y ) ((X) + (Y)) . . .
– #undef WIDTH
– #undef ADD
Ghulam Ishaq Khan Institute of Engineering Sciences and Technology, Topi
Lecture 05: Preprocessing CS 112: Object-Oriented Programming
Conditional Compilation
• conditional compilation
– control preprocessor directives and compilation
– cast expressions, sizeof, enumeration constants cannot
be evaluated
• structure similar to if
#if !defined( NULL )
#define NULL 0
#endif
– determines if symbolic constant NULL defined
• if NULL is defined, defined(NULL) evaluates to 1
• if NULL not defined, defines NULL as 0
– every #if ends with #endif
– #ifdef short for #if defined(name)
– #ifndef short for #if !defined(name)
Ghulam Ishaq Khan Institute of Engineering Sciences and Technology, Topi
Lecture 05: Preprocessing CS 112: Object-Oriented Programming
Conditional Compilation (II)
• Other statements:
#elif - equivalent of else if in an if structure
#else - equivalent of else in an if structure
• "Comment out" code
– cannot use /* ... */
– use
#if 0
code commented out
#endif
to enable code, change 0 to 1
Ghulam Ishaq Khan Institute of Engineering Sciences and Technology, Topi
Lecture 05: Preprocessing CS 112: Object-Oriented Programming
The # and ## Operators
• # - replacement text token converted to string with
quotes
#define HELLO( x ) cout << "Hello, " #x << endl;
HELLO(John) becomes
cout << "Hello, " "John" << endl; Notice #
• strings separated by whitespace are concatenated when using
cout
• ## - concatenates two tokens
#define TOKENCONCAT( x, y ) x ## y
TOKENCONCAT( O, K ) becomes
OK
Ghulam Ishaq Khan Institute of Engineering Sciences and Technology, Topi
Lecture 05: Preprocessing CS 112: Object-Oriented Programming
Line Numbers
• #line
– renumbers subsequent code lines, starting with integer value
– file name can be included
• #line 100 "myFile.c"
– lines are numbered from 100 beginning with next source code file
– for purposes of errors, file name is "myFile.c"
– makes errors more meaningful
– line numbers do not appear in source file
Ghulam Ishaq Khan Institute of Engineering Sciences and Technology, Topi
Lecture 05: Preprocessing CS 112: Object-Oriented Programming
Predefined Symbolic Constants
• Five predefined symbolic constants
– cannot be used in #define or #undef
Symbolic Description
constant
__LINE__ The line number of the current source code line (an integer
constant).
__FILE__ The presumed name of the source file (a string).
__DATE__ The date the source file is compiled (a string of the form
"Mmm dd yyyy" such as "Jan 19 2001").
__TIME__ The time the source file is compiled (a string literal of the
form "hh:mm:ss").
Ghulam Ishaq Khan Institute of Engineering Sciences and Technology, Topi
Lecture 05: Preprocessing CS 112: Object-Oriented Programming
Assertions
• assert macro
– header <cassert>
– tests value of an expression
– if 0 (false) prints error message and calls abort
assert( x <= 10 );
• if NDEBUG defined, all subsequent assert
statements ignored
– #define NDEBUG
Ghulam Ishaq Khan Institute of Engineering Sciences and Technology, Topi
Lecture 05: Preprocessing CS 112: Object-Oriented Programming
References
• Book Code: A
Ghulam Ishaq Khan Institute of Engineering Sciences and Technology, Topi
