Xref: utzoo comp.lang.c++:12726 comp.std.c++:811
Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!usc!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!tdatirv!sarima
From: sarima@tdatirv.UUCP (Stanley Friesen)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.c++,comp.std.c++
Subject: Re: How can I report an error when constructor parameters are wrong.
Message-ID: <190@tdatirv.UUCP>
Date: 7 Apr 91 17:57:52 GMT
References: <1991Mar26.124326.4996@linus.mitre.org>
Reply-To: sarima@tdatirv.UUCP (Stanley Friesen)
Followup-To: comp.lang.c++
Organization: Teradata Corp., Irvine
Lines: 17

In article an article fkuhl@maestro.mitre.org (F. S. Kuhl) writes:
>Is it true that a constructor returns NULL if it fails?  A quick
>look thru ARM failed to settle this point.

No, in fact a constructor never returns anything at all.  It cannot,
since it may be called in contexts other than operator new(). For instance,
given the class type 'T' the following calls a default construcor:

T t_obj;

There is no meaningful way to return anything in this context.

As far as I am concerned this is why the error handling stuff in ARM is so
vital, since it is the *only* structured solution to this problem.
-- 
---------------
uunet!tdatirv!sarima				(Stanley Friesen)