What are C++ functors and their uses?

Question

I keep hearing a lot about functors in C++. Can someone give me an overview as to what they are and in what cases they would be useful?

Answer 1

Functors are used in gtkmm to connect some GUI button to an actual C++ function or method.

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If you use the pthread library to make your app multithreaded, Functors can help you.
To start a thread, one of the arguments of the pthread_create(..) is the function pointer to be executed on his own thread.
But there's one inconvenience. This pointer can't be a pointer to a method, unless it's a static method, or unless you specify it's class, like class::method. And another thing, the interface of your method can only be:

void* method(void* something)

So you can't run (in a simple obvious way), methods from your class in a thread without doing something extra.

A very good way of dealing with threads in C++, is creating your own Thread class. If you wanted to run methods from MyClass class, what I did was, transform those methods into Functor derived classes.

Also, the Thread class has this method: static void* startThread(void* arg)
A pointer to this method will be used as an argument to call pthread_create(..). And what startThread(..) should receive in arg is a void* casted reference to an instance in heap of any Functor derived class, which will be casted back to Functor* when executed, and then called it's run() method.

Answer 2

To add on ,I have used function objects to fit an existing legacy method to the command pattern; (only place where the beauty of OO paradigm true OCP I felt ); Also adding here the related function adapter pattern.

Suppose your method has the signature:

int CTask::ThreeParameterTask(int par1, int par2, int par3)

We will see how we can fit it for the Command pattern - for this, first, you have to write a member function adapter so that it can be called as a function object.

Note - this is ugly, and may be you can use the Boost bind helpers etc., but if you can't or don't want to, this is one way.

// a template class for converting a member function of the type int        function(int,int,int)
//to be called as a function object
template<typename _Ret,typename _Class,typename _arg1,typename _arg2,typename _arg3>
class mem_fun3_t
{
  public:
explicit mem_fun3_t(_Ret (_Class::*_Pm)(_arg1,_arg2,_arg3))
    :m_Ptr(_Pm) //okay here we store the member function pointer for later use
    {}

//this operator call comes from the bind method
_Ret operator()(_Class *_P, _arg1 arg1, _arg2 arg2, _arg3 arg3) const
{
    return ((_P->*m_Ptr)(arg1,arg2,arg3));
}
private:
_Ret (_Class::*m_Ptr)(_arg1,_arg2,_arg3);// method pointer signature
};

Also, we need a helper method mem_fun3 for the above class to aid in calling.

template<typename _Ret,typename _Class,typename _arg1,typename _arg2,typename _arg3>
mem_fun3_t<_Ret,_Class,_arg1,_arg2,_arg3> mem_fun3 ( _Ret (_Class::*_Pm)          (_arg1,_arg2,_arg3) )
{
  return (mem_fun3_t<_Ret,_Class,_arg1,_arg2,_arg3>(_Pm));

}

Now, in order to bind the parameters, we have to write a binder function. So, here it goes:

template<typename _Func,typename _Ptr,typename _arg1,typename _arg2,typename _arg3>
class binder3
{
public:
//This is the constructor that does the binding part
binder3(_Func fn,_Ptr ptr,_arg1 i,_arg2 j,_arg3 k)
    :m_ptr(ptr),m_fn(fn),m1(i),m2(j),m3(k){}

 //and this is the function object 
 void operator()() const
 {
        m_fn(m_ptr,m1,m2,m3);//that calls the operator
    }
private:
    _Ptr m_ptr;
    _Func m_fn;
    _arg1 m1; _arg2 m2; _arg3 m3;
};

And, a helper function to use the binder3 class - bind3:

//a helper function to call binder3
template <typename _Func, typename _P1,typename _arg1,typename _arg2,typename _arg3>
binder3<_Func, _P1, _arg1, _arg2, _arg3> bind3(_Func func, _P1 p1,_arg1 i,_arg2 j,_arg3 k)
{
    return binder3<_Func, _P1, _arg1, _arg2, _arg3> (func, p1,i,j,k);
}

Now, we have to use this with the Command class; use the following typedef:

typedef binder3<mem_fun3_t<int,T,int,int,int> ,T* ,int,int,int> F3;
//and change the signature of the ctor
//just to illustrate the usage with a method signature taking more than one parameter
explicit Command(T* pObj,F3* p_method,long timeout,const char* key,
long priority = PRIO_NORMAL ):
m_objptr(pObj),m_timeout(timeout),m_key(key),m_value(priority),method1(0),method0(0),
method(0)
{
    method3 = p_method;
}

Here is how you call it:

F3 f3 = PluginThreadPool::bind3( PluginThreadPool::mem_fun3( 
      &CTask::ThreeParameterTask), task1,2122,23 );

Note: f3(); will call the method task1->ThreeParameterTask(21,22,23);.

The full context of this pattern at the following link

Answer 3

A Functor is a object which acts like a function. Basically, a class which defines operator().

class MyFunctor
{
   public:
     int operator()(int x) { return x * 2;}
}

MyFunctor doubler;
int x = doubler(5);

The real advantage is that a functor can hold state.

class Matcher
{
   int target;
   public:
     Matcher(int m) : target(m) {}
     bool operator()(int x) { return x == target;}
}

Matcher Is5(5);

if (Is5(n))    // same as if (n == 5)
{ ....}