CODEWITHSUNDEEP
c++listinitializationmember
alphacentauri
alphacentauri

Reputation: 31

c++ member initialization list completeness

must class member initialization lists in c++ be complete? or can they simply initialize one or two of the member data in a class?

thanks in advance!

Upvotes: 3

Views: 410

Answers (3)

Rich Hammond
Rich Hammond

Reputation: 11

int does have a constructor, see Stroustrup The C++ Programming Language section 6.2.8

int j = int();

This initializes j to 0 (The value of an explicit use of the constructor for a built-in type is 0 converted to that type, thus int() is another way of writing 0. Default constructors for built-in types are important so that templates can invoke default constructors without worry, even for built in types.

Upvotes: 1

Georg Fritzsche
Georg Fritzsche

Reputation: 99092

They don't have to be complete. You can leave out base classes and non-POD class types that are default constructible, POD-types however will be left uninitialized.
Obviously constant members and references have to be initialized in the member initialization list.

Upvotes: 5

Peter
Peter

Reputation: 7335

No, they don't have to be complete - any members which aren't specified in it will be default-constructed (this includes any base classes).

Obviously, any members which aren't default-constructible must be explicitly initialised. And a small gotcha - types like integers or floats etc will not be initialised, so their initial value will be undefined.

Upvotes: 0

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