Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!sun-barr!decwrl!borland.com!pete
From: pete@borland.com (Pete Becker)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.c++
Subject: Re: Virtual constructor?
Message-ID: <1991May28.184220.3427@borland.com>
Date: 28 May 91 18:42:20 GMT
References: <25002@well.sf.ca.us>
Distribution: comp
Organization: Borland International
Lines: 11

In article <25002@well.sf.ca.us> al@well.sf.ca.us (Alfred Fontes) writes:
>Sometimes, I wish that the constructor for a base class didn't necessarily
>have to be called before the constructor for a derived class.  Has the idea
>of not calling a base-class constructor been discussed before, and is there
>any expectation of seeing this in future versions of C++?

    The fundamental assumption about classes in C++ is that you cannot access
a class until it has been constructed.  That's a trememdous aid to writing
correct code!  I agree that there are times when it would be handy to get
around this rule, but I try to push such thoughts aside.  The loss of object
security would be too high a price.