Why separate variable definition and initialization in C++?

Question

I\'m currently working on some quite old C++ code and often find things like

int i;
i = 42;

or

Object* someObject = NULL;
someO         


        

Answer 1

int i;
i = 42;

That is not separate variable definition and initialization.

That is separate variable declaration and assignment. I don't see any reason for this. If you know the value at the time of declaration of variable, then initialize it right then. So your question doesn't has any rationale explanation.

Of course, if you don't know the value at the time of declaration, then you don't have any choice, you need assignment then.