C++ Creating a function to get distance between two points

Question

In my program I have created a constructor called Point with two values. I also have a set, get, scale and translate function. I'm trying to create a function that allows me to get the distance between the object and another point. I'm have trouble with it though any help would be brilliant.

#ifndef POINTMODEL
#define POINTMODEL
#define POINTDEB UG

#include <iostream>
#include <string.h>

using namespace std;

class Point {
public:
    Point(void);
    Point(double anX, double aY);
    ~Point();

    void setPoint(double anX, double aY);

    double getX();
    double getY();

    double scaleX(double theX);
    double scaleY(double theY);
    void translate(double theX, double theY);

    void distance(const Point& aPoint);

protected:
private:
    double theX;
    double theY;
};

inline Point::Point(void)
{
    theX = 1;
    theY = 1;
    cout << "\n The default constructor was called" << endl;
}

inline Point::Point(double anX, double aY)
{
    cout << "\n regular constructor called";
}

inline Point::~Point()
{
    cout << "\n the destructor was called" << endl;
}

inline void Point::setPoint(double anX, double aY)
{
    theX = anX;
    theY = aY;
}

inline double Point::getX()
{
    return theX;
}

inline double Point::getY()
{
    return theY;
}

inline double Point::scaleX(double theX)
{
    return theX;
}

inline double Point::scaleY(double theY)
{
    return theY;
}

inline void Point::translate(double offSetX, double offSetY)
{
    cout << "X is translated by : " << offSetX << endl;
    cout << "Y is translated by : " << offSetY << endl;
}

inline void Point::distance(const Point& aPoint)
{
}

#endif

Cpp file:

#include "Point.h"

using namespace std;

int main(void)
{
    cout << "\n main has started" << endl;

    //Point myPoint;
    Point myPoint(1, 1);

    myPoint.setPoint(1, 1);

    cout << "\n The value for X is : " << myPoint.getX() << endl;
    cout << "\n The value for Y is : " << myPoint.getY() << endl;

    cout << "\n X scaled by 2 is : " << myPoint.scaleX(2) << endl;
    cout << "\n Y scaled by 2 is : " << myPoint.scaleY(2) << endl;

    myPoint.translate(2, 3);

    cout << "\n main has finished" << endl;

    return 0;
}

Solution

You need to make your Point::getX() and Point::getY() functions const like so:

inline double Point::getX() const
{
    return theX;
}

If they are not const you cannot call them when the parameter is a const reference.

Then the distance is (changed return from void to double):

double distance(const Point & aPoint) const
{
    const double x_diff = getX() - aPoint.getX();
    const double y_diff = getY() - aPoint.getY();
    return std::sqrt(x_diff * x_diff + y_diff * y_diff);
}

I have deliberately not used std::pow since the exponent is 2. You also need to include <cmath> for std::sqrt.