size of a class having enumerated data types?

[ypjofficial]

Hi all,

In what way does the enumerated data type contibute to the size of a
class if its part of that class?

eg.
#include <iostream.h>
class one
{
public:
enum months{jan =1,feb =2};//till dec = 12
};

int main()
{
cout<<sizeof(one);//outputs 1
cout<<sizeof(one::months);//outputs 4
}

so why the size of enumerated datatype months doesn't get contributed
to the size of the one class?

Thanks and Regards,
Yogesh Joshi
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[John Carson]

<yp*********@indiatimes.com> wrote in message
news:11*********************@g47g2000cwa.googlegro ups.com

Hi all,

In what way does the enumerated data type contibute to the size of a
class if its part of that class?
The mere definition of a data type never contributes to the size of a class.
eg.
#include <iostream.h>
class one
{
public:
enum months{jan =1,feb =2};//till dec = 12
};

int main()
{
cout<<sizeof(one);//outputs 1
cout<<sizeof(one::months);//outputs 4
}

so why the size of enumerated datatype months doesn't get contributed
to the size of the one class?

Consider:

#include <iostream>
using namespace std;

class two
{
public:
class inner
{
int x;
};
};

int main()
{
cout << sizeof(two) << endl; //outputs 1
cout << sizeof(two::inner) << endl; // outputs 4

return 0;
}

If you want a contribution to the size of the class, then you need to
declare an object of the data type that you have defined, e.g.,

class one
{
public:
enum months{jan =1,feb =2};
months object;
};
class two
{
public:
class inner
{
int x;
};
inner object;
};
int main()
{
cout << sizeof(one) << endl; //outputs 4
cout << sizeof(two) << endl; //outputs 4

return 0;
}
--
John Carson

[Heinz Ozwirk]

<yp*********@indiatimes.com> schrieb im Newsbeitrag
news:11*********************@g47g2000cwa.googlegro ups.com...
....

class one
{
public:
enum months{jan =1,feb =2};//till dec = 12
};
int main()
{
cout<<sizeof(one);//outputs 1
This prints the size of an instance of class one. Since that class does not
does not define any data members, the size of an object of that type is 1.
cout<<sizeof(one::months);//outputs 4
This prints the size of an instance of one::months. And since that is an
enumaration type, the size of its members is, IIRC, unspecified.
}

so why the size of enumerated datatype months doesn't get contributed
to the size of the one class?

A type has no size. Only objects have a size, and a type is not an object.
Yes, you can write sizeof(type), but that does return the size of an object
of the specified type.

HTH
Heinz

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[Francis Glassborow]

In article <11*********************@g47g2000cwa.googlegroups. com>,
yp*********@indiatimes.com writes

Hi all,

In what way does the enumerated data type contibute to the size of a
class if its part of that class?

eg.
#include <iostream.h> Warning: pre-standard headerclass one
{
public:
enum months{jan =1,feb =2};//till dec = 12 No need to assign values after the first one. However this is just a
definition of a user defined type and so has zero size. Instances of the
enum will have the size of whatever integer type the implementation uses
(could be as small as a char in this case, but must nott be larger than
an int)};

int main()
{
cout<<sizeof(one);//outputs 1 As one has no data members it has the minimum allowed size for any type
of 1.
cout<<sizeof(one::months);//outputs 4
Which tells you how much storage is need for a variable of type
one::months
}

so why the size of enumerated datatype months doesn't get contributed
to the size of the one class?

Because it isn't data member of the class (nor do functions contribute
to the size of the class.
--
Francis Glassborow ACCU
Author of 'You Can Do It!' see http://www.spellen.org/youcandoit
For project ideas and contributions: http://www.spellen.org/youcandoit/projects
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[joseph.rajesh]

Hello Yogesh,

In your class enum is declared as one type. And it is not instantiated.
On instantiating the object of this class there will be no member
variable of type enum months in the object. Therefore the sizeof this
class will only show the size of the empty class.

But if you create a member variable of type enum months in your class
then it will include the enums size in your class size....

class one
{
public:
enum months{jan =1,feb =2} m_variable; //till dec = 12

};
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[Jim Langston]

<yp*********@indiatimes.com> wrote in message
news:11*********************@g47g2000cwa.googlegro ups.com...

Hi all,

In what way does the enumerated data type contibute to the size of a
class if its part of that class?

eg.
#include <iostream.h>
class one
{
public:
enum months{jan =1,feb =2};//till dec = 12
};

int main()
{
cout<<sizeof(one);//outputs 1
cout<<sizeof(one::months);//outputs 4
}

so why the size of enumerated datatype months doesn't get contributed
to the size of the one class?

Thanks and Regards,
Yogesh Joshi

Because you only declared the enum months, you never instantized it.

change it to:
class one
{
public:
enum months { jan = 1, feb = 2 } mymonths;
};

or
enum months { jan = 1, feb = 2 };
months mymonths;

Now do a sizeof(one) and it'll be 4.

enum months { jan }; only declares months, it doesn't create a variable
called months.
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[Fhulu Lidzhade]

You didn't actually declare a variable/instance of months type. All you
did was declare an enumerated type called months. In fact you can
typedef or declare a nested class/struct inside your class and as long
as you don't declare any varible of of that type, the size of the class
won't be affected. Your class 'one' is empty since you did not declare
any variable. The size of any empty class is implementation depandant
but always greater than zero.

The size of any enum is also implementation dependant but usually
either the size of a byte or an integer. It also depends on the largest
size of an enumerated value.
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[Rolf Magnus]

yp*********@indiatimes.com wrote:

Hi all,

In what way does the enumerated data type contibute to the size of a
class if its part of that class?

eg.
#include <iostream.h>
class one
{
public:
enum months{jan =1,feb =2};//till dec = 12
};

int main()
{
cout<<sizeof(one);//outputs 1
cout<<sizeof(one::months);//outputs 4
}

so why the size of enumerated datatype months doesn't get contributed
to the size of the one class?

Because it is - as you wrote above - a type. Types themselves don't need any
memory (as far as the C++ standard is concerned). Only instances of them
do, but there is no instance of your enum.
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[benben]

yp*********@indiatimes.com wrote:

Hi all,

In what way does the enumerated data type contibute to the size of a
class if its part of that class?

eg.
#include <iostream.h>
class one
{
public:
enum months{jan =1,feb =2};//till dec = 12
};

int main()
{
cout<<sizeof(one);//outputs 1
cout<<sizeof(one::months);//outputs 4
}

so why the size of enumerated datatype months doesn't get contributed
to the size of the one class?

That's because sizeof(one) calculates the size of an object of type one.
one::months is a type not a data member therefore it does not grow one's
size.

To give an analogue, consider an equivalent:

class one{};

enum months {/*...*/};

int main(){
one o;
cout << sizeof(a); // 1
}

The only difference is that now you refer one::month as just month.

In case you are curious why an empty one class has a size (of 1), this
is because it needs to take up a bit of memory so its memory address is
unique.

Ben
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