Question

In PHP and C# the constants can be initialized as they are declared:

class Calendar3
{
    const int value1 = 12;
    const double value2 = 0.001;
}

I have the following C++ declaration of a functor which is used with another class to compare two math vectors:

struct equal_vec
{
    bool operator() (const Vector3D& a, const Vector3D& b) const
    {
        Vector3D dist = b - a;
        return ( dist.length2() <= tolerance );
    }

    static const float tolerance = 0.001;
};

This code compiled without problems with g++. Now in C++0x mode (-std=c++0x) the g++ compiler outputs an error message:

error: ‘constexpr’ needed for in-class initialization of static data member ‘tolerance’ of non-integral type

I know I can define and initialize this static const member outside of the class definition. Also, a non-static constant data member can be initialized in the initializer list of a constructor.

But is there any way to initialize a constant within class declaration just like it is possible in PHP or C#?

Update

I used static keyword just because it was possible to initialize such constants within the class declaration in g++. I just need a way to initialize a constant in a class declaration no matter if it declared as static or not.

Answer 1

In C++11, non-static data members, static constexpr data members, and static const data members of integral or enumeration type may be initialized in the class declaration. e.g.

struct X {
    int i=5;
    const float f=3.12f;
    static const int j=42;
    static constexpr float g=9.5f;
};

In this case, the i member of all instances of class X is initialized to 5 by the compiler-generated constructor, and the f member is initialized to 3.12. The static const data member j is initialized to 42, and the static constexpr data member g is initialized to 9.5.

Since float and double are not of integral or enumeration type, such members must either be constexpr, or non-static in order for the initializer in the class definition to be permitted.

Prior to C++11, only static const data members of integral or enumeration type could have initializers in the class definition.