initializing members during construction

[nofish]

Does it make a difference if I init member variables via initialization list or in the body of the constructor ?

[Xenakios]

With trivial things like ints or floating point numbers there won't be really be a difference. It is however good style to use the constructor init list.

Additionally, since C++11 you can also init member variables directly in the declaration of the member.

class MyClass
{
public:
private:
  int m_foo{42};
  double m_bar{-1.0};
  std::string m_name{"MyClass"};
};

[nofish]

Thanks Xenakios.
The C++11 method is new to me.

[Tale]

Originally Posted by Xenakios

Additionally, since C++11 you can also init member variables directly in the declaration of the member.

Why the curly brackets, and not simply m_foo = 42?

[nofish]

Originally Posted by Tale

Why the curly brackets, and not simply m_foo = 42?

To quote you
http://forum.cockos.com/showpost.php...70&postcount=4

So as I gather, the curly brackets seem to be similar to doing it in the constructor, but maybe Xen can clarify.

[Youlean]

Originally Posted by Tale

Why the curly brackets, and not simply m_foo = 42?

Indeed, this is the easiest way. It works in cpp98 too.

[Xenakios]

Originally Posted by Tale

Why the curly brackets, and not simply m_foo = 42?

For things like ints and floating point numbers, using = works, but with more complicated types using the curly brackets is more convenient :

std::uniform_int_distribution<int> m_foo{ 0, 5 };

instead of

std::uniform_int_distribution<int> m_foo=std::uniform_int_distribution<int>(0,5);

The following does not work :

std::uniform_int_distribution<int> m_foo(0, 5);

[Tale]

Originally Posted by nofish

To quote you
http://forum.cockos.com/showpost.php...70&postcount=4

Hehe... Yeah, but there I was assuming C++98, not C++11.

Originally Posted by Xenakios

For things like ints and floating point numbers, using = works, but with more complicated types using the curly brackets is more convenient

Ah I see. Thanks!