what design patter let me reuse this class?

Hey , there,

I though it is an easy one, but I am stuck here: I have a class like this:

Code:

---

class Circulararray(){
int l;
double* data;
public:
    Circulararray(int length): l(length){
      data = new double[l];
    }
  ~Circulararray(){delete[] data;}

  double getvalueatidx(int idx){...}
 
  void putatfront(double value){...}
}

---

now I want to reuse it for time_t value type, i.e., the data[] inside the class shall be time_t array, and the method getvalueatidx(int idx) should return time_t as well.

how to design and reuse?

Perhaps you would like to turn your class into a class template?

EDIT:
Ah, but you have lots more to do even without introducting templates. Have you considered storing a std::vector or some other suitable container instead of manually managing memory?

YES, I thought of using an standard one, but didn't find it. I need a circular queue or linked list, which doesn't seems to be in the std. so I start to make one myself.

I probably can use std::deque. But I am not sure about how it manages its size. If I am doing this, can I assume its size is constant if I always pop_front() and then push_back()?

The constant size (or not wildly goes up) is important for me, since I will do the push_back() and pop_front() every second for several days.

If that is all the class supports, then the best "design pattern" IMO is to use existing tools like std::deque or std::list.

(And if you are comfortable with using those, you wouldn't have this question any more :))

Edit:

Quote:

---

The constant size (or not wildly goes up) is important for me, since I will do the push_back() and pop_front() every second for several days.

---

This sounds like a queue to me, so you could even use the std::queue adapter (which should let you choose the underlying container type).

I myself have wondered whether a std::deque would keep "crawling" through memory space when you do what you describe, or would it reuse the memory block that has become free at the beginning of it.

That reminds me, I think CornedBee once wrote an iterator adapter for a ring buffer using a standard container.

EDIT:
Ah, posted in dudeomanodude's Circular Lists thread.