C++ Module 01 – Memory, References & Complaining Clients 🧠🧟‍♂️

✅ Status: Completed – all exercises

🏫 School: 42 – C++ Modules (Module 01)

🏅 Score: 100/100

Memory allocation, references, pointers to members and switch statements.

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📚 Table of Contents

• Description

• Goals of the Module

• Exercises Overview

  • ex00 – BraiiiiiiinnnzzzZ
  • ex01 – Moar brainz!
  • ex02 – HI THIS IS BRAIN
  • ex03 – Unnecessary violence
  • ex04 – Sed is for losers
  • ex05 – Harl 2.0
  • ex06 – Harl filter

• Requirements

• Build & Run

• Repository Layout

• Testing Tips

• 42 Notes

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📝 Description

This repository contains my solutions to 42’s C++ Module 01 (C++98).

Module 01 continues the C++ journey by focusing on:

• Dynamic memory and when to use heap vs stack
• References vs pointers (and how they differ)
• Pointers to member functions
• Using the switch statement in C++
• Structuring slightly larger examples while keeping code readable

All exercises are written in C++98 and compiled with strict flags (-Wall -Wextra -Werror -std=c++98).

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🎯 Goals of the Module

Concepts covered (depending on the exercise):

• Manual memory allocation (new / delete, arrays of objects)
• Object lifetime and destructors (debug messages, leak-free code)
• References vs pointers and basic address manipulation
• Pointers to member functions (dynamic behavior without giant if/else forests)
• switch / case for simple log-level filtering
• Splitting code across multiple .hpp / .cpp files

The idea is to get comfortable with how C++ manages memory and indirection, while still staying in relatively small, focused exercises.

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📦 Exercises Overview

ex00 – BraiiiiiiinnnzzzZ

First zombie steps: stack vs heap allocation.

Goal: Implement a Zombie class that:

• Has a private std::string name

• Has a member function void announce(void); that prints:

  <name>: BraiiiiiiinnnzzzZ...
  

• Prints a debug message in its destructor when a zombie is destroyed

You also implement two helper functions:

• Zombie* newZombie(std::string name);

  • Allocates a Zombie on the heap, names it and returns the pointer

• void randomChump(std::string name);

  • Creates a temporary Zombie, makes it announce(), then lets it be destroyed

Concepts practiced:

• Stack vs heap allocation and when each makes sense
• Constructors / destructors for debug output
• Ownership / lifetime of dynamically allocated objects

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ex01 – Moar brainz!

One zombie is nice. A whole horde is better.

Goal: Implement:

Zombie* zombieHorde(int N, std::string name);

• Allocates N zombies in one allocation (array of objects)
• Initializes all of them with the same name
• Returns a pointer to the first zombie in the horde
• You must delete[] the horde when you’re done with it and ensure no leaks

Concepts practiced:

• Using new[] / delete[] for arrays of objects
• Looping through an array of objects and calling announce()
• Making sure destructors run for each element in the array

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ex02 – HI THIS IS BRAIN

Demystifying references through addresses and values.

Goal: Write a program that:

• Has a std::string initialized to "HI THIS IS BRAIN"

• Declares:

  • stringPTR – a pointer to that string
  • stringREF – a reference to that string

• Prints:

  • The memory address of:

    • the original string
    • the pointer’s target
    • the reference’s target

  • Then the values via:

    • the variable
    • the pointer
    • the reference

Concepts practiced:

• Basic pointer and reference syntax
• Differences between pointers and references
• A reference is syntactic sugar with safety rules. It's like a "const pointer," which:
  • Automatically dereferences (you don't need to write *).
  • Prohibits NULL (the compiler will slap you if you try).
  • Prohibits address changes (binding forever).
• Look how similar they are(pointers and references)
• Understanding that a reference is essentially an alias to an existing object
• Seeing how addresses line up in memory

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ex03 – Unnecessary violence

Two humans, one weapon type: pointer vs reference design.

Goal:

Implement a Weapon class:

• Private attribute: std::string type;
• const std::string& getType() const;
• void setType(const std::string& newType);

Then implement two classes: HumanA and HumanB:

• Both have a name and some kind of Weapon association

• Both implement:

  <name> attacks with their <weapon type>
  

• Differences:

  • HumanA is always armed – the Weapon is passed in the constructor (likely as a reference)
  • HumanB may start unarmed and receive a weapon later via setWeapon() (often stored as a pointer)

Concepts practiced:

• Choosing between reference and pointer members
• Understanding when an object must always exist vs may be optional
• Keeping weapon type in sync across multiple owners via reference/pointer

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ex04 – Sed is for losers

Tiny sed-like replacer using only C++ strings.

Goal: Create a program:

./sed_is_for_losers <filename> <s1> <s2>

• Opens <filename>
• Writes a new file <filename>.replace
• Replaces every occurrence of s1 with s2 in the content
• Handles invalid input and I/O errors

Important rules:

• You must not use std::string::replace (depending on your chosen implementation style / subject constraints)
• Use C++ streams (std::ifstream, std::ofstream) instead of C-style I/O

Concepts practiced:

• File input/output with C++ streams
• Manual substring search + replace using string operations
• Edge cases: empty s1, s2, large files, no matches, etc.

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ex05 – Harl 2.0

Turning a noisy customer into a table of function pointers.

Goal: Implement a Harl class with private member functions:

• void debug(void);
• void info(void);
• void warning(void);
• void error(void);

And a public function:

void complain(std::string level);

This should:

• Call the corresponding private method based on level ("DEBUG", "INFO", "WARNING", "ERROR")
• Use pointers to member functions – no giant if/else if chains

The subject typically provides example messages for each log level.

Concepts practiced:

• Mapping strings → member function pointers
• Cleaner dispatch vs long condition chains
• Encapsulating logging behavior inside a class

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ex06 – Harl filter (optional)

Same Harl, but now with log-level filtering and switch.

Goal: Create a program:

./harlFilter <level>

• <level> is one of: "DEBUG", "INFO", "WARNING", "ERROR"

• The program prints all messages from that level and above, in order. For example:

  • Input: "WARNING" → prints WARNING + ERROR messages

  • Input: invalid string → prints a default line like:

    [ Probably complaining about insignificant problems ]
    

• Executable name is usually harlFilter

• You must use the switch statement for this exercise

Concepts practiced:

• Mapping strings to integer levels and using switch
• Filtering logs by severity level
• Reusing the Harl class and controlling which levels are displayed

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🛠 Requirements

General requirements for the C++ modules:

• Compiler: c++

• Flags:

  • -Wall -Wextra -Werror
  • -std=c++98

• OS: any Unix-like system (Linux / macOS)

• No external libraries (no C++11, no Boost, etc.)

• No printf, malloc, free & friends – use C++ standard library instead

• Do not use using namespace std; (or any other namespace with using namespace)

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▶️ Build & Run

Clone the repository and build each exercise separately:

git clone <this-repo-url>
cd cpp-module-01

ex00 – BraiiiiiiinnnzzzZ

cd ex00
make
./zombies   # or whatever executable name you chose

ex01 – Moar brainz!

cd ex01
make
./horde

ex02 – HI THIS IS BRAIN

cd ex02
make
./brain

ex03 – Unnecessary violence

cd ex03
make
./violence

ex04 – Sed is for losers

cd ex04
make
./sed_is_for_losers input.txt s1 s2

ex05 – Harl 2.0

cd ex05
make
./harl

ex06 – Harl filter

cd ex06
make
./harlFilter "WARNING"

Exact executable names may differ depending on my implementation / subject instructions.

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📂 Repository Layout

cpp-module-01/
├── ex00/
│   ├── Makefile
│   ├── Zombie.hpp / Zombie.cpp
│   ├── newZombie.cpp
│   ├── randomChump.cpp
│   └── main.cpp
│
├── ex01/
│   ├── Makefile
│   ├── Zombie.hpp / Zombie.cpp
│   ├── zombieHorde.cpp
│   └── main.cpp
│
├── ex02/
│   ├── Makefile
│   └── main.cpp
│
├── ex03/
│   ├── Makefile
│   ├── Weapon.hpp / Weapon.cpp
│   ├── HumanA.hpp / HumanA.cpp
│   ├── HumanB.hpp / HumanB.cpp
│   └── main.cpp
│
├── ex04/
│   ├── Makefile
│   ├── main.cpp
│   ├── *.hpp / *.cpp    # helper classes if any
│
├── ex05/
│   ├── Makefile
│   ├── Harl.hpp / Harl.cpp
│   └── main.cpp
│
└── ex06/
    ├── Makefile
    ├── Harl.hpp / Harl.cpp   # can reuse / adapt from ex05
    └── main.cpp

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🔍 Testing Tips

Some ideas for manual testing:

• ex00 / ex01 – Zombies

  • Verify destructors are called when expected (heap vs stack, horde deletion)
  • Run with Valgrind / a leak checker to make sure there are no memory leaks

• ex02 – HI THIS IS BRAIN

  • Check that all three printed addresses are consistent:

    • string variable address
    • stringPTR target
    • stringREF target

• ex03 – Unnecessary violence

  • Change the weapon type after constructing humans and ensure both see the updated value
  • Test HumanB without a weapon first to ensure it doesn’t crash and behaves predictably

• ex04 – Sed is for losers

  • Empty file, no occurrence of s1
  • s1 at the start/end of file and multiple times in a row
  • Edge case: s1 and s2 having different lengths, or s1 being an empty string

• ex05 – Harl 2.0

  • Pass each log level and verify only the correct output appears
  • Check behavior with invalid levels (should probably do nothing or handle it gracefully)

• ex06 – Harl filter

  • Test each valid level (DEBUG, INFO, WARNING, ERROR) and verify that:

    • It prints from that level upwards

  • Test with completely invalid strings:

    • Should print something like [ Probably complaining about insignificant problems ]

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🧾 42 Notes

• C++ modules have no enforced Norminette, but the subject still expects clean and readable code.
• No STL containers or algorithms before the later modules – stick to basic types and std::string for now.
• Headers must be self-sufficient (include their own dependencies) and properly guarded against multiple inclusion.

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If you’re a 42 student working on the same module, feel free to browse the code and learn from it — but write your own implementation. That’s how you’ll actually understand C++ and survive the exams. 🚀