Pro/con: Initializing a variable in a conditional statement

Question

In C++ you can initialize a variable in an if statement, like so:

if (CThing* pThing = GetThing())
{
}

Why would one consider this bad or g

Answer 1

This shoulddoesn't work in C++ sinceeven though it supports short circuiting evaluation. MaybeDon't try the following:

if ((CThing* pThing = GetThing()) && (pThing->IsReallySomeThing()))
{
}

err.. see Wesley Tarle's answer