CO2402 Advanced Programming with C++ Lecture 16 Notes

CO2402: Advanced Programming
with C++ Lecture 16


Copy Constructor Basics

1. Definition and Purpose

o A copy constructor is a special constructor used to create a
copy of an object. It is automatically invoked when a copy of
an object is made, such as when passing an object by value or
returning an object from a function.

Example:




2. Automatic Creation and Use Cases

o C++ automatically creates a copy constructor for all objects if
none is provided. It is used in scenarios like:

o Call by value

o Returning an object from a function

o Copy initialization

Example:

, Shallow Copy vs. Deep Copy

1. Shallow Copy

o A shallow copy duplicates the object's immediate members,
but if the object contains pointers, the addresses are copied,
not the pointed-to data. This can lead to issues such as double
deletion.

Example:




2. Deep Copy

o A deep copy duplicates the object's members and also the
data pointed to by the pointers. It ensures that each object
has its own copy of dynamically allocated memory.

Example: