GotW #1 Variable Initialization(变量初始化)

How many ways are there to initialize variables? Don't forget to watch out for bugs that look like variable initialization, but aren't.

Problem

What is the difference, if any, between the following?

    SomeType t = u;
    SomeType t(u);
    SomeType t();
    SomeType t;

Solution

Taking them in reverse order:

声明一个变量， 并使用默认的建构子进行初始化其值。

    SomeType t;

The variable t is initialised using the default ctor SomeType::SomeType().

是对函数t的宣告， 并返回一个sometype 的值：

    SomeType t();

This was a trick; it might look like a variable declaration, but it's a function declaration for a function t that takes no parameters and returns a SomeType.

声明一个t 变量， 并使用u 对其初始化。  

    SomeType t(u);

This is direct initialisation. The variable t is initialised using SomeType::SomeType(u).

调用的是赋值构造， 由于是在变量声明阶段，  所以不是赋值。 

    SomeType t = u;

This is copy initialisation, and the variable t is always initialised using SomeType's copy ctor. (Even though there's an "=" there, that's just a syntax holdover from C... this is always initialisation, never assignment, and so operator= is never called.)

Semantics: If u also has type SomeType, this is the same as "SomeType t(u)" and just calls SomeType's copy ctor. If u is of some other type, then this is the same as "SomeType t( SomeType(u) )"... that is, u is converted to a temporary SomeType object, and t is copy-constructed from that.

Note: The compiler is actually allowed (but not required) to optimize away the copy construction in this kind of situation. If it does optimize it, the copy ctor must still be accessible.

[Guideline] Prefer using the form "SomeType t(u)". It always works wherever "SomeType t = u" works, and has other advantages (for instance, it can take multiple parameters).