Using optionals to represent the failure of a function

Before C++17, a function typically represented failure in one of several ways:

A null pointer was returned.

* e.g. Calling a function `Delegate *App::get_delegate()` on an `App` instance that did not have a delegate would return `nullptr`.
* This is a good solution for objects that have been dynamically allocated or are large and managed by pointers, but isn't a good solution for small objects that are typically stack-allocated and passed by copying.

A specific value of the return type was reserved to indicate failure.
e.g. Calling a function unsigned shortest_path_distance(Vertex a, Vertex b) on two vertices that are not connected may return zero to indicate this fact.
The value was paired together with a bool to indicate is the returned value was meaningful.
e.g. Calling a function std::pair<int, bool> parse(const std::string &str) with a string argument that is not an integer would return a pair with an undefined int and a bool set to false.

In this example, John is given two pets, Fluffy and Furball. The function Person::pet_with_name() is then called to retrieve John’s pet Whiskers. Since John does not have a pet named Whiskers, the function fails and std::nullopt is returned instead.

#include <iostream>
#include <optional>
#include <string>
#include <vector>

struct Animal {
    std::string name;
};

struct Person {
    std::string name;
    std::vector<Animal> pets;
    
    std::optional<Animal> pet_with_name(const std::string &name) {
        for (const Animal &pet : pets) {
            if (pet.name == name) {
                return pet;
            }
        }
        return std::nullopt;
    }
};

int main() {
    Person john;
    john.name = "John";
    
    Animal fluffy;
    fluffy.name = "Fluffy";
    john.pets.push_back(fluffy);
    
    Animal furball;
    furball.name = "Furball";
    john.pets.push_back(furball);
    
    std::optional<Animal> whiskers = john.pet_with_name("Whiskers");
    if (whiskers) {
        std::cout << "John has a pet named Whiskers." << std::endl;
    } else {
        std::cout << "Whiskers must not belong to John." << std::endl;
    }
}

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std::optional:

* Introduction

* std::optional as return value

* value_or

* Using optionals to represent the absence of a value

* Using optionals to represent the failure of a function

Table Of Contents

0 Getting started

1 Literals

2 Basic type keywords

3 Operator precedence

4 Floating point arithmetic

5 Bit operators

6 Bit manipulation

7 Bit fields

8 Arrays

9 Flow control

10 const keyword

11 Loops

12 mutable keyword

13 friend keyword

14 keywords

15 Variable declaration keywords

16 auto keyword

17 Pointers

18 Type keywords (class, enum, struct, union)

19 Classes / structs

20 std::string

21 Enumeration

22 std::atomic

23 std::vector

24 std::array

25 std::pair

26 std::map

27 std::unordered_map

28 std::set and std::multiset

29 std::any

30 std::variant

31 std::optional

32 std::integer_sequence

33 std::function

34 std::forward_list

35 std::iomanip

36 Iterators

37 Basic I/O

38 File I/O

39 Streams

40 Stream manipulators

41 Metaprogramming

42 Returning multiple values from a function

43 References

44 Polymorphism

45 Value and reference semantics

46 Function call by value vs. by reference

47 Copying vs assignment

48 Pointers to class / struct members

49 The this pointer

50 Smart pointers

51 Unions

52 Templates

53 Namespaces

54 Function overloading

55 Operator overloading

56 Lambdas

57 Threading

58 Value categories

59 Preprocessor

60 SFINAE

61 Rule of three, five and zero

62 RAII

63 Exceptions

64 Implementation-defined behavior

65 Special member functions

66 Random numbers

67 Sorting

68 Regular expressions

69 Perfect forwarding

70 Virtual member functions

71 Undefined behavior

72 Overload resolution

73 Move semantics

74 Pimpl idiom

75 Copy elision

76 Fold expressions

77 Unnamed types

78 Singleton

79 ISO C++ Standard

80 User-defined literals

81 Type erasure

82 Memory management

83 Explicit type conversions

84 RTTI

85 Standard library algorithms

86 Expression templates

87 Scopes

88 Atomic types

89 static assert

90 constexpr

91 Date and time with std::chrono

92 Trailing return type

93 Function template overloading

94 Common compile linker errors

95 Design patterns

96 Optimizations

97 Compiling and building

98 Type traits

99 One definition rule

100 Unspecified behavio

101 Argument dependent name lookup

102 Attributes

103 Internationalization

104 Profiling

105 Return type covariance

106 Non-static member functions

107 Recursion

108 Callable objects

109 Constant class member functions

110 C++ vs. C++ 11 vs C++ 17

111 Inline functions

112 Client server examples

113 Header files

114 Const correctness

115 Refactoring techniques

116 Parameter packs

117 Iteration

118 type deduction

119 C++ 11 memory model

120 Build systems

121 Concurrency with OpenMP

122 Type inference

123 Resource management

124 Storage class specifiers

125 Alignment

126 Inline variables

127 Linkage specifications

128 Curiusly recurring template pattern

129 Using declaration

130 Typedef and type aliases

131 Layout of object types

132 C incompatibilities

133 Optimization

134 Semaphore

135 Thread synchronization

136 Debugging

137 Futures and promises

138 More undefined behaviors

139 Mutexes

140 Recursive mutex

141 Unit testing

142 decltype

143 Digit separators

144 C++ Containers

145 Arithmetic meta-programming

146 Contributors