Re: compilation error with direct-initialization

I have a doubt in the same program I posted originally in the
beginning of this thread.
Kindly bear with me.

To avoid declaring 'val' inside the function add(), I could have
written,
template <typename Container>
typename Container::value_type add(const Container& c,
                                   typename Container::value_type val)

But for the sake of learning purpose only, suppose I do not use this
prototype.

Consider the following program x.cpp:

#include <cstdlib>
#include <iostream>
#include <vector>
#include <deque>
#include <string>

using namespace std;

template <typename Container>
typename Container::value_type add(const Container& c)
{
        typename Container::value_type val =
                         typename Container::value_type();
        /* typename Container::value_type val(
                          typename Container::value_type());
        */

        for (typename Container::const_iterator ci = c.begin();
             ci != c.end();
             ++ci)
                val = val + *ci;

        return val;

}

int main()
{
        vector<int> c;
        int i;

        while (cin >> i)
               c.push_back(i);

        cout << "sum = " << add(c) << endl;

        deque<string> d;
        string str;

        cin.clear();

        while (cin >> str)
               d.push_back(str + " ");

        cout << "sum = " << add(d) << endl;

        return EXIT_SUCCESS;

}

I compiled this program with g++3.4.3 as
g++ -std=c++98 -pedantic -Wall -Wextra x.cpp

There is no compilation error.

Suppose I want to call the function add() on a container with value-
type being a built-in type(as with the case vector<int> c;) as well a
class type (as with the case deque<string> d;).

Then I need to initialize the 'val' variable with an appropriate
default value because I am calculating

val = val + *ci;

I want to initialize 'val' with zero for built-in type argument to the
container and I want to call the default ctor for class type argument
to the container.

I cannot just write
typename Container::value_type val;
because, for built-in type for Container::value_type, this statement
will initialize 'val' with some garbage value.

So, I have to write
typename Container::value_type val = typename Container::value_type();

But for Container::value_type being class type, the above statement
performs copy-initialization. Copy-initialization MAY involve one copy
ctor. Is it possible to avoid this copy-initialization but at the same
time initialize 'val' to a default value of appropriate type - that
is, is there a syntax by which I can initialize 'val' directly for
Container::value_type being built-in type as well as class-type ? Or,
is the above original statement the only way(which means that copy-
initialization cannot be avoided at all times)?

Kindly explain.

Thanks
V.Subramanian