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initialize a const array in a class initializer in C++

Asked 2008-10-02T11:23:08.493
84

I have the following class in C++:

class a {
    const int b[2];
    // other stuff follows

    // and here's the constructor
    a(void);
}

The question is, how do I initialize b in the initialization list, given that I can't initialize it inside the body of the function of the constructor, because b is const?

This doesn't work:

a::a(void) : 
    b([2,3])
{
     // other initialization stuff
}

Edit: The case in point is when I can have different values for b for different instances, but the values are known to be constant for the lifetime of the instance.

c++ initialization c++03 array-initialize
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interestingly, in C# you have the keyword const that translates to C++'s static const, as opposed to readonly which can be only set at constructors and initializations, even by non-constants, ex:

readonly DateTime a = DateTime.Now;

I agree, if you have a const pre-defined array you might as well make it static. At that point you can use this interesting syntax:

//in header file
class a{
    static const int SIZE;
    static const char array[][10];
};
//in cpp file:
const int a::SIZE = 5;
const char array[SIZE][10] = {"hello", "cruel","world","goodbye", "!"};

however, I did not find a way around the constant '10'. The reason is clear though, it needs it to know how to perform accessing to the array. A possible alternative is to use #define, but I dislike that method and I #undef at the end of the header, with a comment to edit there at CPP as well in case if a change.

answered 2009-05-28T17:44:12.840

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