How many constructors should a class have?

Question

I\'m currently modifying a class that has 9 different constructors. Now overall I believe this class is very poorly designed... so I\'m wondering if it is poor design for a clas

Answer 1

I generally have one, which may have some default parameters. The constructor will only do the minimum setup of the object so it's valid by the time it's been created. If I need more, I'll create static factory methods. Kind of like this:

class Example {
public:
  static FromName(String newname) { 
    Example* result = new Example();
    result.name_ = newname;
    return result;
  }
  static NewStarter() { return new Example(); }

private:
  Example();
}

Okay that's not actually a very good example, I'll see if I can think of a better one and edit it in.