Question

I have code like this:

bool doSomething()
{ 
  std::cout << "I'm here!"
  return true;
}
const bool x = doSomething();

If placed in a cpp-file in my Visual C++ console application, the code is executed as expected before entering the main() method.

However, if I place this code in a .cpp-file inside a static link library project (which is linked to my console application), the code is never executed. I do not define any methods in this file that are used from outside, there is no according .h-file. So is it possible that the linker doesn’t link the file?
How can I avoid this?

(Actually the code gets executed if I create a header file for the cpp file, place another method “void dummy() {}” inside the cpp- and h-file and call dummy() from main.)

Thanks a lot!

Answer 1

This should set things straight.

$3.6.2/4- “It is
implementation-defined whether the
dynamic initialization of a non-local
variable with static storage duration
is done before the first statement of
main. If the initialization is
deferred to some point in time after
the first statement of main, it shall
occur before the first use of any
function or variable defined in the
same translation unit as the variable
to be initialized.34″