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From: kempf@hplabsc.UUCP
Newsgroups: comp.lang.c++
Subject: Some Questions
Message-ID: <1207@hplabsc.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 6-Feb-87 11:48:59 EST
Article-I.D.: hplabsc.1207
Posted: Fri Feb  6 11:48:59 1987
Date-Received: Sun, 8-Feb-87 01:15:03 EST
Organization: Hewlett-Packard Laboratories
Lines: 48

I am posting these questions for a friend of my, who is very shy.
Please reply via. e-mail, unless the responses may be of general
interest. Thank you.

		Jim Kempf	kempf@hplabs.hp.com

----------------------------------------------------------------------
I have three questions about c++ (in particular version 1.1).

Question 1:
Is there any reason that initialization of static members couldn't be
allowed.  The version 1.1 compiler gives an error message when an
initializer is present for a static member, and "THE BOOK" claims (page
275):

	No initializer can be specified for a static member, and it
	cannot be of a class with a constructor.

What is the technical reason for this?  I have not been able to think of
any reason that this shouldn't be legal given that static variables can
be initialized.

Question 2:
What are the semantics of a private constructor?  It seems to me that a
private constructor should be invisible outside of members (and friends)
of a class.  Yet the compiler (version 1.1) does not seem to enforce
this.  Is this a bug in the compiler, or am I missing something?

Question 3:
The following file compiles without error under version 1.1 on our
machine.  It seems to me that it should complain about the arguments to
the constructor since no constructor that accepts arguments has been
declared.  Am I missing something or is this a bug in the compiler?

#include <stream.h>

class foo {
	char c;
	long l;
	float f;
    friend ostream& operator<<(ostream&, foo&);
};

void bar()
{
    foo* p = new foo('a', 13, 99.9);
    cerr << *p;
}