Table of Contents

• Overview
• Projects
  • Exercise 00: Conversion of Scalar Types
  • Exercise 01: Serialization
  • Exercise 02: Identify Real Type
• Requirements
• Usage

Overview

This module is designed to deepen understanding of C++ type conversion, serialization, and polymorphism through practical exercises.

Projects

Exercise 00: Conversion of Scalar Types

• Goal: Implement a ScalarConverter class with a single static method, convert, to convert a string literal into multiple scalar types (char, int, float, double).
• Key Features:
  • Handle pseudo-literals (nan, +inf, -inf, etc.).
  • Manage non-displayable and impossible conversions with clear error messages.
  • The class should not be instantiable.

Exercise 01: Serialization

• Goal: Implement a Serializer class with the following methods:
  • uintptr_t serialize(Data* ptr);
  • Data* deserialize(uintptr_t raw);
• Key Features:
  • Convert a pointer to an unsigned integer type and back.
  • Ensure the deserialized pointer matches the original.
  • Create a non-empty Data structure to test serialization.

Exercise 02: Identify Real Type

• Goal: Create a base class and derive three classes (A, B, C) with type identification functionality.
• Key Features:
  • Implement Base* generate(void) to randomly instantiate and return one of the derived types.
  • Use void identify(Base* p) and void identify(Base& p) to detect the actual type.
  • Avoid using std::typeinfo.

Requirements

• Language: C++98
• Compilation:
  • A Makefile is provided for compilation.
  • Include the necessary headers for numeric limits and special values handling.
• Environment: Linux-based systems or any compatible environment supporting C++98.

Usage

1. Clone the repository:

   git clone <repository-url>
   cd <repository-folder>

2. Build the project:

   make

3. Run the individual exercices:

   ./convert <literal>
   ./serialize
   ./identify

4. Clean up:

   make fclean