What is the return type of a Degree

Question

4.20/5 (2 votes)

See more:

C++

What is the return type of a value that is in degrees minutes seconds format?

Posted 18-Apr-12 3:05am

Sumal.V

Updated 18-Apr-12 3:20am

Richard MacCutchan

v2

Add a Solution

Comments

bbirajdar 18-Apr-12 9:13am

Not clear

Sumal.V 18-Apr-12 9:18am

In order to calculate degrees in the format- 28°36'40.124"
And return this value in an edit box, what is the return type to use?

bbirajdar 18-Apr-12 10:24am

There is no built in return type for your requirement. Use 'string'

Sumal.V 18-Apr-12 10:30am

cheers.. thank you

3 solutions

Solution 1

Whatever type the function declares. If this is your function then you must know what the type is. If it is someone else's then look at the definition. However, judging by your comment above you are looking for a string.

Posted 18-Apr-12 3:22am

Richard MacCutchan

Add a Solution

Add your solution here

Treat my content as plain text, not as HTML

Preview 0

…

Existing Members

Sign in to your account

...or Join us

Download, Vote, Comment, Publish.

Your Email
Password
Forgot your password?

Your Email
This email is in use. Do you need your password?
Optional Password

I have read and agree to the Terms of Service and Privacy Policy
Please subscribe me to the CodeProject newsletters

When answering a question please:

Read the question carefully.
Understand that English isn't everyone's first language so be lenient of bad spelling and grammar.
If a question is poorly phrased then either ask for clarification, ignore it, or edit the question and fix the problem. Insults are not welcome.
Don't tell someone to read the manual. Chances are they have and don't get it. Provide an answer or move on to the next question.

Let's work to help developers, not make them feel stupid.

This content, along with any associated source code and files, is licensed under The Code Project Open License (CPOL)

Resmi Anna · Accepted Answer · 2012-04-18T19:13:00

Solution 2

It is better you use your own data types for these value. You can use a structure which has following definition for the ease of operation on these datas.

C++

struct Coordinate
{
    int Degree;
    int Minute;
    float Seconds;
};
// function that returns Coordinate
Coordinate GetCoordinate()
{
    Coordinate CoordObj;
    CoordObj.Degree = 28;
    CoordObj.Minute = 36;
    CoordObj.Seconds = 40.5;
    return CoordObj;
}

Posted 18-Apr-12 19:13pm

Resmi Anna

Comments

Niklas L 19-Apr-12 4:02am

A good solution, but it leaves an unnecessarily large memory footprint, which you will suffer from when copying instances around. A single double (or float) would probably do. 5'ed anyway, for making it an OO solution.

JackDingler 19-Apr-12 12:09pm

Well, you could use a single quad word divided into bit fields too...

This would be a large footprint if you're trying to run in 16k of RAM. You wouldn't happen to be a time traveler from the 1970s would you?

The solution provided has some advantages. Its easy to code to. Uses primitive types that will load and process fast. Doesn't require additional math to find the value of the elements.

If you find that you need millions of these and space becomes a problem, only then you should put in the work to optimize the storage.

As far as copying the instances around, use the 'const & operator' if that's a concern.

Niklas L · Accepted Answer · 2012-04-18T21:55:00

I would say the return type should be an Angle (or Bearing, ..). Create a class Angle to use. Internally it can use a floating point member for the decimal value. Then add a string formating member function to get the desired string when needed.

Advantages: Easy to perform calculations, and you can reduce the risk of mixing units, such as degrees and radians.

I use the following if it helps you in any way

C++

class angle
{
public:
	enum unit
	{
		rad = 0,
		deg = 1
	};
	angle() : r(0.) {}
	explicit angle(double a, unit u = rad) {
		if (u == rad) r = a; else r = a*M_PI/180;
	}
	angle(const angle& fi) : r(fi.r) {}
	double radians() const { return r; }
	double degrees() const { return r*180/M_PI; }

	// -pi <= a < pi
	void normalize() {
		while(r<-M_PI)r+=2*M_PI;while(r>=M_PI)r-=2*M_PI;
	}
	// 0 <= a < 2pi
	void normalize_positive() {
		while(r<0.)r+=2*M_PI;while(r>=2*M_PI)r-=2*M_PI;
	}

	angle& operator=  (const angle &fi) { if (&fi != this) r = fi.r; return *this; }
	angle& operator+= (const angle &fi) { r += fi.r; return *this; }
	angle& operator-= (const angle &fi) { r -= fi.r; return *this; }
	bool   operator== (const angle &fi) { return r == fi.r; }
	bool   operator>  (const angle &fi) { return r > fi.r; }
	bool   operator<  (const angle &fi) { return r < fi.r; }
	bool   operator>= (const angle &fi) { return r >= fi.r; }
	bool   operator<= (const angle &fi) { return r <= fi.r; }
	angle  operator-  () { return angle(-r); }
	angle  operator-  (const angle& fi) { return angle(r-fi.r); }
protected:
	double r;
};

You can easily add your formating functions to this class, or better yet, create a formating class that does the job on an angle instance.