Re: what is the default constructor for the POD type

From:
Goran <goran.pusic@gmail.com>
Newsgroups:
comp.lang.c++
Date:
Sun, 19 Feb 2012 09:20:20 -0800 (PST)
Message-ID:
<42d7bfa4-2beb-4e44-b819-8f7d4efa607c@h6g2000yqk.googlegroups.com>
On Feb 19, 7:33 am, Stanley Rice <hecong...@gmail.com> wrote:

I want to know the *default constructor* for the POD type. Since STL
implement some of the function based on the type of the paramter, fill_n
for example, may have different implementation, one for the POD type, whe=

re

no constructor will be called, and other for non-POD type. So I wrote the
code:
    vector<int> vec(5);
and follow the debugger. Finlly, I come across a function:

template<typename _OutputIterator, typename _Size, typename _Tp>
  inline typename
  __gnu_cxx::__enable_if<__is_scalar<_Tp>::__value, _OutputIterator>::_=

_type

  __fill_n_a(_OutputIterator __first, _Size __n, const _Tp& __value)
  {
    const _Tp __tmp = __value;
    for (; __n > 0; --__n, ++__first)
      *__first = __tmp;
    return __first;
  }

which is defined in stl_algobse.h. I print out the value of the parameter
*__value* and the result is:
    (const int &) @0xbffff338: 0
and the value of __tmp is: 0

I didn't initialize the __value, so I think the value of variable __value
should be *random*, just like a normal variable definition without
initializaion. But, here the value is always 0, Why?


Seeing that I am the one who said to step through with debugger in
another thread, it's my fault for what you did ;-).

However, in that thread, you said that you wanted to know _how_ STL is
implemented, but here, the question is _what_ STL should be doing. And
for that, you read the documentation ;-).

Basically, when resizing (even during construction), vector default-
initializes it's elements. For "primitive" types, that means setting
to 0.

As Alf hinted, C++ can do this:

int i; // i==random memory contents. Primitive and POD types can start
their life like this, uninitialized.

and this:

int i(); // i==0. This is default initialization.

Goran.

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