How to initialize an array in C++ objects

Question

After reading How to initialize an array in C, in particular:

Don\'t overlook the obvious solution, though:

int myArray[10] = { 5, 5, 5, 5

Answer 1

Unless I'm mistaken, the initializer list is only allowed for when the variable is initialized during declaration - hence the name. You can't assign an initializer list to a variable, as you're trying to do in most of your examples.

In your last example, you're trying to add static initialization to a non-static member. If you want the array to be a static member of the class, you could try something like this:

class Derp {
private:
    static int myArray[10];
}

Derp::myArray[] = { 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5 };

If you want to add a class member, you could try making the static array const and copy it into the member array in the constructor.

Answer 2

You need to initialize the array in the constructor initialization list

#include <iostream>

class Something {
private:

int myArray[10];

public:

Something()
: myArray { 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5 }
{
}

int ShowThingy(int what) {
    return myArray[what];
}

~Something() {}
};

int main () {
   Something Thing;
    std::cerr << Thing.ShowThingy(3);
}

..\src\Something.cpp:6:51: sorry, unimplemented: non-static data member initializers

C++11 also adds supports for inline initialization of non-static member variables, but as the above error message states, your compiler has not implemented this yet.