XIV

Inline Function

Preprocessor Macro – good for declaring constnts eg. #define PI 3.14
Provide textual substitution
Each time the macro name is encountered with arguments, the arguments used in its definition are replaced by the actual arguments found.

1

It is a function provided by C++.
It is declared by using the keyword inline before the function protoype.

It is a a preprocessor directive provided by C.
It is declared by using the preprocessor directive #define before the actual statement.

2

Expressions passed as arguments to inline functions are evaluated once.

In some cases, expressions passed as arguments to macros can be evaluated more than once.
Every time you use an argument in a macro, that argument is evaluated.

#define max(a,b) (a>b?a:b)

void main()

{

  int a = 0;

  int b = 1;

  int c = max(a++, b++);

  cout << a << endl << b << endl;

}

The intention is to have the program print 1 and 2, but because the macro is expanded to:

int c = a++ > b++ ? a++ : b++;

b will be incremented twice, and the program prints 1 and 3. //try

3

They are parsed by the compiler

They are expanded by the preprocessor at pre-compile time.

4

Inline functions follow all the protocols of type safety enforced on normal functions.
Argument types are checked, and necessary conversions are performed correctly.
The compiler performs return type checking, function signature before putting inline function into symbol table.
They can be overloaded to perform the right kind of operation for the right kind of data.

No such thing, hence, macros are more error prone as compared to inline functions. the The parameters are not typed (the macro works for any objects of arithmetic type).
No error checking is done during compilation.
Eg. you can pass strings to a macro that does some integer arithmetic

#define MAX(a, b) ((a < b) ? b : a)

int main( void)

{

  cout << "Maximum of 10 and 20 is " << MAX("20", "10") << endl;

    return 0;

}

5

Can be used for debugging a program as they are expanded at compile time and a break point caa be placed at the inline function adefinition and step into the method for debugging step by step.

Can not be used for debugging as they are expanded at pre-compile time.

6

Inline member functioncs can access the class’s member data.

The preprocessor has no permission to access member data of a class and are thus useless even if used within a class. Thus they can not even be used as member functions.
Eg.

#define VAL (X::i) // Error

class X {

  int i;

public:
  ---};

7

Paranthesis need to be handled carefully as missing a pair or putting an extra pair may prouce undesirable results.

8

Inline functions may or may not be expanded by the compiler. It is the compiler’s decision whether to expand the function inline or not.

Macros are always expanded.

9

It can be defined inside or outside the class.

It can not be defined insode the class.

10

Inline functions pass arguments by value, just like regular functions do. If the argument is an expression such as 4.5 +7.5 then the function passes the value of the expression 12 in this case.

Expressions passed into macros are not always evaluated before entering the macro body.

Macros don’t pass by value.

Thus , #define square(x) x*x

:

b=square(4.5+7.5)

This will be replaced by : b=4.5+7.5*4.5+7.5

11

 Since type checking can be used in inline functions, theis problem can be avoided.

Expressions may expand inside the macro so that their evaluation precedence is different from what you expect.

Eg.

#define FLOOR(x,b) x>=b?0:1

Now, if expressions are used for the arguments

if(FLOOR(a&0x0f,0x07)) // ...

the macro will expand to

if(a&0x0f>=0x07?0:1)

The precedence of & is lower than that of >=, so the macro evaluation will surprise you.