Question

Earlier I asked why this is considered bad:

class Example {  public:    Example(void);   ~Example(void);   void f() {} }  int main(void) {  Example ex(); // <<<<<< what is it called to call it like this?   return(0); } 

Now, I understand that it’s creating a function prototype instead that returns a type Example. I still don’t get why it would work in g++ and MS VC++ though.

My next question is using the above, would this call be valid?

int main(void) {  Example *e = new Example();   return(0); } 

? What is the difference between that and simply calling Example e()??? Like I know it’s a function prototype, but it appears maybe some compilers forgive that and allow it to call the default constructor? I tried this too:

class Example {  private:   Example();   public:   ~Example(); };  int main(void) {  Example e1(); // this works  Example *e1 = new Example(); // this doesn't   return(0); } 

So I’m a bit confused 🙁 Sorry if this been asked a million times.

Answer 1

this question will be helpful to understand this behavior