#define

Can someone explain this to me. I see it being used all the time, I am brand new to the language. Is it used to declare a certain type of a variable or constants or?

Can you use examples if possible, it's greatly appreciated.

think of #define as using constants, except they are can hold any type of data and can even hold operations.

For example:

Code:

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#define MY_NAME  "Jeff"
// Is basically the same as:
const char name[]="Jeff";

---

Code:

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#define MY_AGE  16
// Is the same as
const int age=16;

---

those are the most basic examples of #define, but you can also use #define for things called "macros" which are basically shortened ways of calling complex operations of code.

For example:

Code:

---

#define CLEAN(data) { if(data) { delete [] data; data=NULL; } }
 
int main()
{
          int* dynamicMem=new int[34];
 // We create the dynamic memory
 // Then, instead of having to call of the stuff to delete the memory, we can just use CLEAN
          CLEAN(dynamicMem);
 
          return 0;
}

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If you care to know what goes on in the background, basically during preprocessor-phase of the compiling, the compiler reads in all of these #define statements and remembers what they are, then, when you use them in your code, it in a sense "copies" whatever you had to the right of the definition in to your code.

So in our example above, it would replace that CLEAN(dynamicMem) macro with the code like so:

Code:

---

CLEAN(dynamicMem)
// vvvvvvv
// becomes
// vvvvvvv
{
        if(dynamicMem)
        {
                  delete [] dynamicMem;
                  dynamicMem=NULL;
        }
}

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by Jotun

Can someone explain this to me. I see it being used all the time, I am brand new to the language. Is it used to declare a certain type of a variable or constants or?

Can you use examples if possible, it's greatly appreciated.

---

#define will define something before compilation takes place, so constants are one use.

ex)
#define PI (3.14)

....

float thing = 3 * PI;


// at compile time the "defined" value will be substituted in, ie) the compiler will see

float thing = 3 * (3.14);


#define can also be used for flags when including files. at the top of a header one might have something like

#ifndef MYFILE_H
#define MYFILE_H

// header

#endif

This is to ensure the file is only included once. The first time the file is encountered, MYFILE_H is not defined, so the next line is processed which will define MYFILE_H. If the file is included again, MYFILE_H will already be defined so the file is not processed twice.

These are just two examples of uses of #define. There are many others as well

Thank you, I appreciate the help guys.

Just because you can do something doesn't mean you should, though. It is bad practice to define constants using #define. Use the keyword const instead. Macros had greater usefullness in C, but since C++ has function templates, those are generally better to use than #defines. Remember that the preprocessor knows nothing about C++ or type checking. It will hurt you ruthlessly, and not raise the warnings it should.