4 - Parameters and Overloading

Question 1

There are two basic kinds of parameters. They are …

Answer 1

1. Call-by-value parameters

2. Call-by-reference parameters

Question 2

What is a call-by-value parameter?

Answer 2

Call-by-value parameters take only the value of the argument that is plugged in.

Question 3

What is a call-by-reference parameter?

Answer 3

With a call-by-reference parameter, the argument is a variable and the variable itself is plugged in; therefore, the variable’s value can be changed by the function invocation. A call-by-value parameter is indicated by using the ampersand &.

Question 4

Can you mix call-by-reference and call-by-value parameters?

Answer 4

yes!
void goodStuff (int& par1, int par2, double& part3);

Question 5

When calling a function with call-by-reference parameters, what is actually given to the function?

Answer 5

A list of the memory locations associated with each parameter name.

Question 6

What is overloading?

Answer 6

Giving two (or more) function definitions for the same function name.

Question 7

How does the compiler know which overloaded function to use?

Answer 7

When there is a function call, the compiler uses the function definition whose number of formal parameters and types of formal parameters match the arguments in the function call.

Question 8

Can you overload a function name by giving two definitions that differ only in the type of value returned?

Answer 8

No.

Question 9

Can you overload based on call-by-value versus call-by-reference parameter differences?

Answer 9

No.

Question 10

What is a function’s signature?

Answer 10

A function’s signature is the function name with the sequence of types in the parameter list, not including the const keyword and not including the ampersand, &.

Question 11

What are the rules the compiler uses for resolving which of multiple overloaded function definitions it should use?

Answer 11

1. Exact match.

2. Matching using automatic type conversion.

Question 12

What is a default argument?

Answer 12

You can specify a default argument for one or more call-by-value parameters in a function. If the corresponding argument is omitted, the it is replaced by the default argument.

Question 13

What is the syntax for default arguments?

Answer 13

void showVolume (int length, int width = 1, int height = 1);

The values are given in the function declaration, and not in the function definition.

Question 14

Where must the default arguments be positioned?

Answer 14

They must be in the rightmost positions. If you have more than one default argument, then when the function is involved, you must omit arguments starting from the right.

Question 15

What is the assert macro?

Answer 15

The assert macro is used like a void canton that takes one call-by-value parameter of type bool. When the assert macro is invoked, its assertion argument is evaluated. If it evaluates to true, nothing happens. If it evaluates to false, then the program ends and an error message is issued.

Question 16

The assert macro is defined in which library?

Answer 16

include

cassert.

Question 17

An alternative to manually removing all assert macros from your code is …

Answer 17

Turning them off using
#define NDEBUG before your assert inclusion.

Question 18

What is a driver program?

Answer 18

A driver program is a program that is written to test the functions of your project. They should allow you to give a range of preconditions, and then see yourself if the postconditions are as expected.

Question 19

It is sometimes impossible or inconvenient to test a function without using some other function that has not yet been implemented. What can you do?

Answer 19

Write a stub. A stub is a simplified function, that will not necessarily perform the correct calculation, but will deliver values that can suffice for testing.