What are object constructors and destructors in Pascal?

Constructors

Constructors are automatically invoked when an object is created. The prototype of a constructor is shown below:

constructor Object.constructor_name(argument(s): type1; argument(s): type2; ...);

//local variables
begin
   //constructor body
end;

Normally, the constructor is named init; however, you can give it any name you want.

Destructors

Destructors are invoked when an object is destroyed or goes out of scope. The prototype of a destructor is shown below:

destructor Object.destructor_name(argument(s): type1; argument(s): type2; ...);

//local variables
begin
   //destructor body
end;

Destructors free any memory allocated to the object.

Note: The keyword Object in the constructor and destructor prototypes refers to the object’s name. Both constructors and destructors accept any number of arguments.

program objMethods;
// Declaring a person Object
type Person = object
    // fields to hold data about a person
    private
        person_name : string;
        age : integer;
    // object methods
    public
        // constructor for object instantiation
        constructor createPerson(n : string; a : integer);
        
        // procedures to update data fields
        procedure setName(n : string);
        procedure setAge(a : integer);
        
        // functions to return data field values
        function getName() : string;
        function getAge() : integer;
        
        // destructor for when object is destroyed
        destructor destroyPerson;
end;
// Defining the object methods
constructor Person.createPerson(n : string; a : integer);
begin
    person_name := n;
    age := a;
end;
destructor Person.destroyPerson;
begin
    writeln('Destroying the Person object');
end;
procedure Person.setName(n : string);
begin
    person_name := n;
end;
function Person.getName() : string;
begin
    getName := person_name;
end;
procedure Person.setAge(a : integer);
begin
    age := a;
end;
function Person.getAge() : integer;
begin
    getAge := age;
end;
// creating object instance
var
    newPerson : Person;
begin
  // initializing object
  newPerson.createPerson('Alice', 30);
  
  //output object fields  
  writeln('The person''s name is ', newPerson.getName());
  writeln('The person''s age is ', newPerson.getAge());
  
  //setting object fields
  newPerson.setName('Bob');
  newPerson.setAge(20);
  
  //output object fields  
  writeln('The person''s name is ', newPerson.getName());
  writeln('The person''s age is ', newPerson.getAge());
  
  // Destroy object
  newPerson.destroyPerson;
end.

Explanation

The Person object holds data about a person’s name and age.

The code defines a constructor, createPerson, that can be invoked to initialize the object with specific values and a destructor, destroyPerson, for when the object is destroyed.

setName and setAge can update a person’s name and age, respectively. Similarly, the getName and getAge methods return the person’s name and age, respectively.

Since all these methods are classified under the public keyword, they are always accessible.

Once the object newPerson is created, the constructor, createPerson, is invoked to initialize the values for the name and age to “Alice” and $30$ , respectively. The getName and getAge methods return these values, which are output accordingly.

The setName and setAge methods are invoked to change the values for name and age to “Bob” and $20$ , respectively. The updated values are retrieved and output.

Finally, the destructor, destroyPerson, is called to destroy the object before the program ends. The destructor outputs a message and frees any memory allocated to the object.

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What are object constructors and destructors in Pascal?

Constructors

Destructors

Example

Explanation