The Node
class is the building block in the architecture of linked lists. Each node consists of two primary components:
- Data member variable (
DATA
): - It stores the actual content of the node, it specifically stores string data. - Pointer to Next Node (
NEXT
): - This pointer establishes the link or connection between nodes within the linked list, It points to the memory address of the next node in the sequence, allowing traversal through the list.
In addition, the class provides a constructor that initializes the DATA
with an empty string (""
) and sets the NEXT
pointer to nullptr
, indicating no connection to another node.
-
Why is the data type of
NEXT
Node
?- The data type of
NEXT
isNode
to adhere to the principle that pointers should align with the data type they reference. In this context,NEXT
points to an object of typeNode
, as it's created by theNode
class.
- The data type of
-
Why is
NEXT
initialized asnullptr
instead ofNULL
?NEXT
is initialized asnullptr
to represents a null pointer value. While bothnullptr
andNULL
represent this role,nullptr
is type-safe and distinct from integer types, providing better type checking and compatibility with modern C++ features.
-
What is
#pragma once
at the head of the file?#pragma once
is a preprocessor directive that ensures a header file is included only once during compilation. It serves the same purpose as traditional include guards (#ifndef
,#define
,#endif
), but with fewer lines of code and improved compile speed. It helps prevent issues like circular dependencies and reduces the likelihood of name clashes.