Iterator not working

Hello everyone. I recently changed from Visual Basic to Eclipse and I'm having a hard time getting used to this new IDE >_< (Nope, I didn't choose it).
Sometimes it detects unexistent errors which disappear after I restart Eclipse or when I coment/uncoment the code itself.
Therefore, I'm not sure whether the following piece of code is correct or not (even tho it considers it to be an error and I don't know why).

Code:

---


class Frota {
    vector<Vehicle *> vehicles;
public:
    int lowestYear() const;
};


int Frota::lowestYear() const{


    int lowestYear = 2014;


    vector<Vehicle *>::iterator it;
    int year = (*it)->getYear(); //getYear is a method from another class 


    if (vehicles.size() != 0) {
        for (it = vehicles.begin(); it != vehicles.end(); ++it) { //The error lies on this line of code
            if (year < lowestYear) {
                lowestYear = ano;
            }
        }
        return lowestYear;
    }
  return 0;
}

---

Error: no match for 'operator=' (operand types are .....) etc etc.

There isn't much I can say about it. I've done several iterators before, I don't understand why would the for loop be incorrect.

Any input is welcome.

This doesn't look like your actual code.

Line 14: vector<Vehicule*> may be different from vector<Vehicle*>.
Line 15: "it" is uninitialised (undefined behaviour).
Line 19: vector<Vehicle*>::iterator cannot be assigned to vector<Vehicule*>::iterator.
Line 26: no return statement.

I traduced a few keywords to English so you would understand it better and added a return statement in the end. Fixed now. And yes, it is my code.

Also, what do you mean? "Line 15: "it" is uninitialised (undefined behaviour)." I thought this piece of code

Code:

---

vector<Vehicle *>::iterator it;

---

was considered initialization.

And surely your year variable has to be inside your for-loop and not above it?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Khabz

I traduced a few keywords to English so you would understand it better and added a return statement in the end. Fixed now. And yes, it is my code.

Also, what do you mean? "Line 15: "it" is uninitialised (undefined behaviour)." I thought this piece of code

Code:

---

vector<Vehicle *>::iterator it;

---

was considered initialization.

---

That just declares a variable, in this case an uninitialized variable. If you had an initialization portion there, like

Code:

---

vector<Vehicle *>::iterator it = something;

---

then you'd have an initialized variable. (But see my other post for why this line is wrong anyway.)

You should declare variables in the smallest possible scope to avoid such problems...

Code:

---

#include <vector>
class Vehicle
{
public:
    int getYear(){return 2015;}
};
class Frota {
    std::vector<Vehicle *> vehicles;
public:
    int lowestYear() const;
};
 
 
int Frota::lowestYear() const{
 
 
    if (vehicles.size() != 0) {
        int lowestYear = 2014;
 
        for (auto it = vehicles.begin(); it != vehicles.end(); ++it) {
            //Only here accessing vector members using it makes sence

            int year = (*it)->getYear();
            if (year < lowestYear) {
                lowestYear = year;
            }
        }
        return lowestYear;
    }
    return 0;
};

---

As a afterthought though - it seems usage of std::min_element would be even more suitable here

Something along the lines:

Code:

---

#include <algorithm>    // std::min_element, std::max_element
#include <vector>
class Vehicle
{
public:
    int getYear(){return 2015;}
};

bool myfn(Vehicle* i, Vehicle* j) { return i->getYear()<j->getYear(); }

class Frota {
    std::vector<Vehicle *> vehicles;
public:
    int lowestYear() const;
};
 
 
int Frota::lowestYear() const{
 
 
    int lowestYear = 2014;
 
    if (vehicles.size() != 0) {
        auto it = std::min_element(vehicles.begin(),vehicles.begin(),myfn);
        int year = (*it)->getYear();
        return year;
    }
    return 0;
};

---

PS. I'm to lazy to test the code above with real vector filled with values...

If you are allowed to use C++11, you can also use lambdas:

Code:

---

if (vehicles.size() != 0)
{
    auto compare = [](Vehicle* lhs, Vehicle* rhs) -> bool
    {
        return lhs->getYear() < rhs->getYear();
    };

    auto it = std::min_element(vehicles.begin(), vehicles.begin(), compare);
    int year = (*it)->getYear();
    return year;
}

---

The advantage is that you don't pollute the enclosing namespace with such a detail.

I really appreciate your attempts at finding a new and more suitable solution but I rather have my method working.

After some research I came up with a solution: I switched from

Code:

---

vector<Veiculo *>::iterator it;

---

to

Code:

---

vector<Veiculo *>::const_iterator it;

---

It does make sense considering the vector "vehicles" is not changed at all.
Although I don't understand why'd the compiler detect an error without "const".

Here's how it looks now.

Code:

---

class Frota {
    vector<Vehicle *> vehicles;
public:
    int lowestYear() const;
};


int Frota::lowestYear() const{


    int lowestYear = 2014;



    vector<Vehicle *>::const_iterator it;

 
    if (vehicles.size() != 0) {
        for (it = vehicles.begin(); it != vehicles.end(); ++it)
            int year = (*it)->getYear();
            if (year < lowestYear) {
                lowestYear = ano;
            }
        }
        return lowestYear;
    }
  return 0;
}

---

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Khabz

Although I don't understand why'd the compiler detect an error without "const".

---

Because if Frota::lowestYear() is a const-qualified member function, then all member variables of *this (including "vehicles") are seen const-qualified as well. If you were able to use vector<Vehicle*>::iterator inside Frota::lowestYear() const then you could accidentally modify "vehicles", which would break the constness of "Frota". That was the cause, but apparently noone here has noticed it before.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Khabz

Although I don't understand why'd the compiler detect an error without "const".

---

I'm going to guess that's because you have the function marked as a const function, so it has to be able to work on a const vector.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by kmdv

Because if Frota::lowestYear() is a const-qualified member function, then all member variables of *this (including "vehicles") are seen const-qualified as well. If you were able to use vector<Vehicle*>::iterator inside Frota::lowestYear() const then you could accidentally modify "vehicles", which would break the constness of "Frota". That was the cause, but apparently noone here has noticed it before.

---

I understand it now, thank you very much.