Reference no: EM13168408

Our String class always deletes the old character buffer and reallocates a new character buffer on assignment or in the copy constructor. This need not be done if the new value is smaller than the current value, and hence would fit in the existing buffer. Can we rewrite the String class so that each instance will maintain an integer data field indicating the size of the buffer, then only reallocate a new buffer when necessary. Abstract the common tasks from the assignment operator and the copy constructor, and place them into an internal method?

Here is the string class

class String
                    {
                    public:
                    String(); // Default constructor
                    String(const char p[]); // Simple constructor
                    String(const String& right); // Copy constructor
                    ~String(); // Destructor
                    String& operator=(const String& right); // Assignment operator
                    String& operator+=(const String& right);
                    int length() const;
                    char& operator[](int index);
                    char operator[](int index) const;
                    private:
                    char* buffer;
                    int len;
                    };