I am implementing a binary search tree class and was wondering if my move/copy constructors and assignment operators are implemented correctly. (It seems to work correctly, but this is my first time implementing these constructors and assignment operators, I am afraid I might have missed something.)
Here is the code (also in an online compiler): EDIT: Here is updated code based on @Alex Larionov comment:
#include <memory>
#include <iostream>
class BinarySearchTree {
public:
BinarySearchTree();
BinarySearchTree(int value);
BinarySearchTree(const BinarySearchTree& other_tree);
BinarySearchTree(BinarySearchTree&& other_tree);
BinarySearchTree& operator=(const BinarySearchTree& other_tree);
BinarySearchTree& operator=(BinarySearchTree&& other_tree);
~BinarySearchTree() = default;
void clear();
inline int size() const {
return tree_size;
}
inline bool empty() const {
return tree_size == 0;
}
private:
struct Node {
int val;
std::unique_ptr<Node> left = nullptr;
std::unique_ptr<Node> right = nullptr;
Node(const int value) :
val{value},
left{nullptr},
right{nullptr}
{}
};
std::unique_ptr<Node> root;
int tree_size;
void deep_copy_tree(std::unique_ptr<Node>& dest_node, const std::unique_ptr<Node>& source_node);
};
BinarySearchTree::BinarySearchTree() : root{nullptr}, tree_size{0} {
std::cout << "BinarySearchTree() constructor\n";
}
BinarySearchTree::BinarySearchTree(int value) : root{std::make_unique<Node>(value)}, tree_size{1} {
std::cout << "BinarySearchTree(int value) constructor\n";
}
BinarySearchTree::BinarySearchTree(const BinarySearchTree& other_tree) : root{nullptr}, tree_size{0} {
std::cout << "Copy constructor\n";
if (other_tree.tree_size == 0) return;
tree_size = other_tree.tree_size;
deep_copy_tree(root, other_tree.root);
}
BinarySearchTree::BinarySearchTree(BinarySearchTree&& other_tree) :
root(std::exchange(other_tree.root, nullptr)), tree_size(std::exchange(other_tree.tree_size, 0)) {
std::cout << "Move constructor\n";
}
BinarySearchTree& BinarySearchTree::operator=(const BinarySearchTree& other_tree) {
std::cout << "Copy assignment operator\n";
clear();
tree_size = other_tree.tree_size;
deep_copy_tree(root, other_tree.root);
return *this;
}
// EDIT: updated based on @Alex Larionov comment
BinarySearchTree& BinarySearchTree::operator=(BinarySearchTree&& other_tree) {
std::cout << "Move assignment operator\n";
clear();
tree_size = other_tree.tree_size;
other_tree.tree_size = 0;
root = std::move(other_tree.root);
return *this;
}
/*BinarySearchTree& BinarySearchTree::operator=(BinarySearchTree&& other_tree) {
std::cout << "Move assignment operator\n";
clear();
tree_size = other_tree.tree_size;
deep_copy_tree(root, other_tree.root);
other_tree.tree_size = 0;
other_tree.root = nullptr;
return *this;
}*/
void BinarySearchTree::clear() {
root = nullptr;
tree_size = 0;
}
void BinarySearchTree::deep_copy_tree(std::unique_ptr<Node>& dest_node, const std::unique_ptr<Node>& source_node) {
if (!source_node) return;
dest_node = std::make_unique<Node>(source_node->val);
deep_copy_tree(dest_node->left, source_node->left);
deep_copy_tree(dest_node->right, source_node->right);
}
int main()
{
BinarySearchTree myBST1(5);
BinarySearchTree myBST2 = myBST1; // copy constructor
BinarySearchTree myBST3(4);
myBST3 = myBST1; // copy assignment
std::cout << "myBST3.empty() before move: " << myBST3.empty() << '\n';
BinarySearchTree myBST4(std::move(myBST3)); // move constructor
std::cout << "myBST3.empty() after move: " << myBST3.empty() << '\n';
std::cout << "myBST4.empty() before move assignment: " << myBST4.empty() << '\n';
myBST2 = std::move(myBST4); // move assignment
std::cout << "myBST4.empty() after move assignment: " << myBST4.empty() << '\n';
return 0;
}
The copy constructor default-initializes and then checks if other_tree
is empty to avoid deep-copying it. But you already do that check in deep_copy_tree
. Why not just initialize with that directly?
BinarySearchTree::BinarySearchTree(const BinarySearchTree& other_tree) : tree_size{other_tree.tree_size} {
std::cout << "Copy constructor\n";
deep_copy_tree(root, other_tree.root);
}
To go further, I would make deep_copy_tree
return instead of taking an out-parameter (and also drop the "_tree"; it's already in a "Tree" class).
std::unique_ptr<Node> BinarySearchTree::deep_copy(const std::unique_ptr<Node>& source_node) {
if (!source_node) return nullptr;
auto dest_node = std::make_unique<Node>(source_node->val);
dest_node->left = deep_copy(source_node->left);
dest_node->right = deep_copy(source_node->right);
return dest_node;
}
That way you can initialize root
in the initializer list as well.
BinarySearchTree::BinarySearchTree(const BinarySearchTree& other_tree) : root(deep_copy_tree(other_tree.root)), tree_size{other_tree.tree_size} {
std::cout << "Copy constructor\n";
}
In the move constructor, you don't need to use std::exchange
. In fact, for root
, using std::move(other_tree.root)
does the same (moved-from unique_ptr
s are nullptr
s).
In the copy assignment operator, you probably want to check for self-assignment.
if (this != &other_tree)
You also don't need the clear
in either assignment operators, since assigning to the unique_ptr
effectively destroys the value it was holding.