I'm having trouble understanding when and why exactly a member in my class is zero-initialized according to http://en.cppreference.com/w/cpp/language/zero_initialization.
Consider the following test program:
#include <iostream>
#include <stdio.h>
class MyTest {
private:
const static unsigned int dimension = 8;
void (* myFunctions [dimension])();
public:
MyTest() {}
void print() {
for(unsigned int i=0; i < MyTest::dimension; i++) {
printf("myFunctions[%d] = %p\n", i, this->myFunctions[i]);
}
}
};
int main() {
//We declare and initialize an object on the stack
MyTest testObj = {};
testObj.print();
return 0;
}
I am declaring a class to have an array of 8 function pointers of the signature "void functionname()". When I declare and initialize an object of the class in main
as MyTest testObj = {};
or MyTest testObj;
, I expected it to be zero-initialized, i.e. all pointers are null pointers.
However, compiling with g++ 5.3.0 on my Windows 10 machine with g++ -m32 -o test -std=c++14 test.cpp && test
machine gives the output:
myFunctions[0] = 76dd6b7d
myFunctions[1] = 00401950
myFunctions[2] = 0061ff94
myFunctions[3] = 004019ab
myFunctions[4] = 00401950
myFunctions[5] = 00000000
myFunctions[6] = 003cf000
myFunctions[7] = 00400080
Which look like un-initialized values from the stack..
If I move the declaration of the object outside of main (as a global variable), it prints all zeroes again.
If I have understood cppreference correctly, this is because I have a variariable with static storage duration, and is thus zero-initialized. It initializes my class type by zero-initializing all non-static data members of my class (i.e., the myFunctions
) array. An array is initialized by zero-initializing every element of it, which, in my function pointer case, is a null pointer.
Why does it not zero-initialize my object the stack when I declare it with MyTest testObj = {};
?
The following
MyTest testObj = {};
is not zero-initialization for MyTest
, but is simply calling its default constructor. The cppreference page explains why (emphasis mine):
As part of value-initialization sequence for non-class types and for members of value-initialized class types that have no constructors, including value initialization of elements of aggregates for which no initializers are provided.
MyTest
is a class type, and a has a constructor.
Defining the constructor with
MyTest() = default;
will instead zero-initialize the object.
Relevant Standard quotes (emphasis mine) below.
From [dcl.init#8]:
To value-initialize an object of type T means:
if T is a (possibly cv-qualified) class type with either no default constructor ([class.ctor]) or a default constructor that is user-provided or deleted, then the object is default-initialized;
if T is a (possibly cv-qualified) class type without a user-provided or deleted default constructor, then the object is zero-initialized and the semantic constraints for default-initialization are checked, and if T has a non-trivial default constructor, the object is default-initialized;
...
From [dcl.init.list]:
List-initialization of an object or reference of type T is defined as follows:
...
Otherwise, if the initializer list has no elements and T is a class type with a default constructor, the object is value-initialized.