Question

I have heard that using static member objects is not a very good practice.

Say for example, I have this code:

class Foo {
...
static MyString str;
};

I define and initialize this variable in the implementation file of this class as:

MyString Foo::str = "Some String"; // This is fine as my string API handles this.

When I run this code, I get a warning:

warning:'Foo::str' requires global construction.

I have quite much of such members in my class, what is the best way to handle this.

Thanks,

Answer 1

Most of the arguments against them are the same as for global variables:

1. Initialization order between different compilation units is undefined.
2. Initialization order inside one compilation unit may affect the behavior — thus non trivial ordering may be required.
3. If a constructor throws an exception you can’t catch it, your program is terminated.

APPENDED: To handle this properly you must either make sure that above points don’t apply to your code and ignore the warning, or redesign your program: Do you really need them static? Why not use const char* Foo::str = "Some String";?