Making a list of object in C++

Question

I'm a bit rusty on C++, haven't used it for a while. So I need to make a data structure that can hold objects and do operations with them. Just like a array list. Now I first create and init a dynamic array of my class type :

Student* array_of_students = new Student[SIZE];

Then I create a Student object, say like this :

Student student(param1, param2, etc..);

I also provide a destructor since I use a lot of char pointers (I know I should use string but this is for learning purpose only.) where I delete number of pointers that hold some names.

~Student(){ /* delete filed1; etc */ }

Well, when I try to list those names, I get some random values, probably because pointers are deleted, meaning destructor is called, and even if I have reference to a particular object with array_of_students, those fields are destroyed and I don't have anything to display. This probably happens because Student instance goes out of scope and calls it's destructor.

So what is the solution in here? How can I hold them as long as array_of_students is alive?

I believe I need to define some sort of copy constructor that will copy that original student instance to a new copy that will be referenced by array_of_students. Your thoughts would be helpful.

EDIT :

class Student{

private :
   char *_name;

   public :

   Student(){}
   Student(char* name){

      _name = new char[strlen(name)];
      strcpy(_name, name); }

   char* getNaziv(){return _name;}
   ~Student(){delete _name;}

};

int main()
{
    Student* array_of_students = new Student[5];
    char input[100];
    for(int i = 0; i < 5; i++){
        cout << "Input name : "<<endl;
        cin >> input;
        Student tmp(input);
        array_of_students[i] = tmp;
    }

    for(int i = 0; i < 5; i++){

        cout <<"Name is : "<< array_of_students[i].getNaziv()<< endl;
    }
}

Answer 1

Try not to use char arrays to store string, use instead std::string. And if it is possible, don't use new keyword to allocate memory, let C++ take care of allocation and deallocation of memory for you.

And don't use raw arrays of Students, it's preferred to use std::vector or other container classes. Like this:

#include <cstdlib>
#include <iostream>
#include <vector>

class Student
{
        private :
                std::string _name;

        public :
                Student ( );
                Student ( std::string& name );

                void name ( std::string& );
                std::string& name ( );
};

Student::Student ( )
{
        /* Constructor with no parameters, do some crazy stuff... */
}

Student::Student ( std::string& name )
{
        this -> name ( name );
}

void Student::name ( std::string& name )
{
        this -> _name = name;
}

std::string& Student::name ( )
{
        return ( this -> _name );
}

int main ( int argc, char **argv )
{
        std::vector<Student> array_of_students;
        std::string input;

        for(int i = 0; i < 5; i++)
        {
            std::cout << "Input name : " << std::endl;
            std::cin >> input;

            Student tmp ( input );
            array_of_students.push_back ( tmp );
        }

        for( auto sit = array_of_students.begin ( ); sit != array_of_students.end ( ); ++ sit )
        {
                std::cout <<"Name is : "<< ( *sit ).name ( ) << std::endl;
        }

        return ( EXIT_SUCCESS );
}

Output:

Input name :
Name_01
Input name : 
Name_02
Input name : 
Name_03
Input name : 
Name_04
Input name : 
Name_05
Name is : Name_01
Name is : Name_02
Name is : Name_03
Name is : Name_04
Name is : Name_05