Application freezes up when delete this is called.

This is the function that causes the problem.

Code:

---

Deck::~Deck()
{
        delete this;
}

---

I call the function in this function:

Code:

---

void Card_Game::cleanup()
{
       
        deck->~Deck(); // delete deck

        for (unsigned int loop = 0; loop < players.size(); loop++) // delete hands
        {
                players[loop].clear_hand();
        }

        players.clear(); //delete players
       
}

---

And I call cleanup here:

Code:

---

int Card_Game::main_menu(int result)
{
        switch(result)
        {
        case 1: // play blackjack
                cleanup(); // cleanup just in case
                initialize_players(2);
                deck = new Deck;
                deck->shuffle_deck();
                players[0].draw(*(deck), 1);
                players[1].draw(*(deck), 1);
                return 1;
        case 2: // quit game
                return 3;
        default:// invalid entry
                std::cout << "Please enter 1 or 2.\n";
                return 0;
        }
}

---

Basically the program freezes when I make it go to case 1. Any ideas why I can't do that?

I can't say I know why you can't do that, I do know it isn't a good idea though. If someone decides not to dynamically cast a deck than it would cause problems. Might as well just delete it instead of calling the destructor.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Drac

I can't say I know why you can't do that, I do know it isn't a good idea though. If someone decides not to dynamically cast a deck than it would cause problems. Might as well just delete it instead of calling the destructor.

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Hmm, I switched it to delete deck, but that still causes my program to freeze, maybe it's beacuse I didn't initialize a deck yet?

Why not use the common routine: Deck does not delete itself in the destructor and the user is responsible for calling delete for an object that is allocated with new.

Your problem is probably infinite recursion. You call the destructor explicitly (very bad idea in 99.99% cases), destructor calls delete, which in turn calls the destructor etc.

Okay, so I do this:

Code:

---

void Card_Game::cleanup()
{
        delete deck;

        for (unsigned int loop = 0; loop < players.size(); loop++) // delete hands
        {
                players[loop].clear_hand();
        }

        players.clear(); //delete players
}

---

And it is still freezing up for some reason on the delete call.

deck is a Deck*, does deck need to actually point to something for me to call delete on it?

Quote:

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deck is a Deck*, does deck need to actually point to something for me to call delete on it?

---

Yes, or it is a null pointer.

Doing "delete this" also assumes that the object is created by new, and inside the object, you can't guarantee that such is the case, e.g.

Code:

---

void func()
{
  Deck d;
  ... Some code
}

---

Doing delete this on the above code would DEFINITELY cause badness - how bad depends on the particular compiler - if you are lucky, it gives you an indication such as "bad heap in free", but if you are not so lucky, things will just go completely and horribly strange until it crashes on some future memory allocate/free operation (new/delete or malloc/free) that has a "wild pointer". These type of problems can be hard to find.

--
Mats

Okay, now I'm even checking to see if deck is not null before i try to delete it, but the program is still crashing when i go to case 1...

Code:

---

void Card_Game::cleanup()
{
        if( deck != NULL)
        {
                delete deck;
        }

        for (unsigned int loop = 0; loop < players.size(); loop++) // delete hands
        {
                players[loop].clear_hand();
        }

        players.clear(); //delete players
}

---

It is only OK to delete something if the pointer actually points to an object allocated with new or is set to 0. Unless you pick one of the cases, the pointer will be uninitialized, containing a garbage address which isn't necessarily 0.

You need to initialize your variables, preferably in the constructor.

[Edit]
Another idea. Does deck absolutely have to be allocated dynamically? Perhaps it could simply have a reset member function that you could call at any time without destroying and recreating it all the time?

Well, I would like to allocate the deck dynamically, I'm trying to keep it so i only pool resources when I need them, so when I'm in the main menu I don't need any deck instances or player instances running or anything like that.

why is my null check not working? It's still calling delete on the null pointer and crashing the program :\

The Deck* is a member of the Card_Game class...

but calling delete on deck should delete the memory pointed to not the pointer right?

Quote:

---

why is my null check not working? It's still calling delete on the null pointer and crashing the program

---

As I noted, it is safe to use delete on a null pointer. It is not safe to use delete if the pointer has not been initialised, or is not null and yet the object it points to no longer exists.

oohhh, how do I check then if the pointer has been initialized?

>> players[0].draw(*(deck), 1);
Unless draw() takes a Deck reference, that will create a copy on the stack - which won't delete very well.

gg

Draw does indeed take a reference :)

Code:

---

void Player::draw(Deck & deck, int number)
{
        for(int loop = 0; loop < number; loop++)
        {
                hand->card_list.push_back(deck.cards.back());
                deck.cards.pop_back();
        }
}

---

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Shamino

oohhh, how do I check then if the pointer has been initialized?

---

As far as I know you can't check it. You ensure that there are no uninitialized variables in the code by initializing everything at the point of declaration or in constructors.

Code:

---

int* p; //bad
int*q = 0; //good
int* r = new int; //also good

MyClass() {} //bad
MyOtherClass(): my_member_pointer(0) {} //good
MyThirdClass(): my_member_pointer(new Something) {} //also good

---

Where do you declare deck? It should look like this:

Code:

---

Deck* deck = NULL;

---

not like this:

Code:

---

Deck* deck;

---

Otherwise deck will have some garbage value in it, and when you try to delete that address -- BOOM!