I want to define a min and max methods in a Utils class.
@interface Utils
int min(int a, int b);
int max(int a, int b);
@end
But I don't want to have named parameters. It would be a too heavy notation. I wanted to use the C-style definition. But then [Utils min(a, b)]
as a call doesn't work. What is my problem?
Thanks in advance for any help
Since you aren't using the OS X Implementation of objective-c, you may not have access to the predefined MIN and MAX macros.
You can define these yourself as
#define MIN(a,b) ((a) < (b) ? (a) : (b))
#define MAX(a,b) ((a) > (b) ? (a) : (b))
There is probably a better way to define them, but these will create the simple macros for your use. You can add them into any common .h file that your classes normally share.
It is already defined as a macro.
MIN(a, b)
MAX(a, b)
You dont need to redefine these ones.
There's a serious security issue with the solution posted by Brandon Bodnár (which by the time of this writing is marked as a valid solution).
Issue described here: http://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/gcc-3.4.6/gcc/Min-and-Max.html
And the (valid & secure) solution to it: http://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/gcc-3.4.6/gcc/Typeof.html
Check it out yourself:
#include <stdio.h>
#define NAIVE_MAX(a,b) (a > b ? a : b)
#define NAIVE_MIN(a,b) (a < b ? a : b)
#if !defined MAX
#define MAX(a,b) \
({ __typeof__ (a) __a = (a); \
__typeof__ (b) __b = (b); \
__a > __b ? __a : __b; })
#endif
#if !defined MIN
#define MIN(a,b) \
({ __typeof__ (a) __a = (a); \
__typeof__ (b) __b = (b); \
__a < __b ? __a : __b; })
#endif
int main (int argc, const char * argv[]) {
int a = 3;
int b = 5;
#pragma mark NON-FATAL CASES:
printf("NAIVE_MAX(%d, %d) => %d\n", a, b, NAIVE_MAX(a, b));
printf("NAIVE_MIN(%d, %d) => %d\n", a, b, NAIVE_MIN(a, b));
printf("MAX(%d, %d) => %d\n", a, b, MAX(a, b));
printf("MIN(%d, %d) => %d\n", a, b, MIN(a, b));
printf("\nEverything fine so far...\n\n");
#pragma mark FATAL CASES:
//cache:
int _a = a;
int _b = b;
printf("NAIVE_MAX(%d++, %d++) => %d\n", _a, _b, NAIVE_MAX(a++, b++));
//reset:
a = _a;
b = _b;
printf("NAIVE_MIN(%d++, %d++) => %d\n", _a, _b, NAIVE_MIN(a++, b++));
//reset:
a = _a;
b = _b;
printf("NAIVE_MAX(++%d, ++%d) => %d\n", _a, _b, NAIVE_MAX(++a, ++b));
//reset:
a = _a;
b = _b;
printf("NAIVE_MIN(++%d, ++%d) => %d\n", _a, _b, NAIVE_MIN(++a, ++b));
printf("\nOuch, this doesn't look right at all!\n\n");
#pragma mark NON-FATAL CASES:
//reset:
a = _a;
b = _b;
printf("MAX(%d++, %d++) => %d\n", _a, _b, MAX(a++, b++));
//reset:
a = _a;
b = _b;
printf("MIN(%d++, %d++) => %d\n", _a, _b, MIN(a++, b++));
//reset:
a = _a;
b = _b;
printf("MAX(++%d, ++%d) => %d\n", _a, _b, MAX(++a, ++b));
//reset:
a = _a;
b = _b;
printf("MIN(++%d, ++%d) => %d\n", _a, _b, MIN(++a, ++b));
printf("\nAh, much better now.\n\n");
return 0;
}
Console log:
NAIVE_MAX(3, 5) => 5
NAIVE_MIN(3, 5) => 3
MAX(3, 5) => 5
MIN(3, 5) => 3
Everything fine so far...
NAIVE_MAX(3++, 5++) => 6
NAIVE_MIN(3++, 5++) => 4
NAIVE_MAX(++3, ++5) => 7
NAIVE_MIN(++3, ++5) => 5
Ouch, this doesn't look right at all!
MAX(3++, 5++) => 5
MIN(3++, 5++) => 3
MAX(++3, ++5) => 6
MIN(++3, ++5) => 4
Ah, much better now.
So never ever use the naive implementation as seen in the code above (and as suggested by Brandon Bodnár, sorry buddy ;) ) if you want to avoid worst cases like these.
This is probably not a good idea for this particular application, but it is possible to write Objective-C methods with parameters “without names”, or rather with zero-length names:
+ min:(int)a :(int)b;
...
[Utils min:a :b]
(The selector would be @selector(min::)
.)
Objective-C class methods use named parameters, period. That's just the way it is.
Why not make it a global, free function? You shouldn't need a Utils class for this kind of thing.
If you don't want to clutter the global namespace, you could use Objective-C++ (rename all .m files to .mm) and put it in a namespace.
In a template file named "XXIntegerMath.h" drop this...
#import <Foundation/Foundation.h>
static inline NSInteger imax(NSInteger a, NSInteger b) {
return a > b ? a : b;
}
static inline NSInteger imin(NSInteger a, NSInteger b) {
return a < b ? a : b;
}
Then in your objective-c class ...
#import "XXIntegerMath.h"
NSInteger minValue = imin(someValue, someOtherValue);
It doesn't suffer from the problems described by Regexident.