Question

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Why is it an error to use an empty set of brackets to call a constructor with no arguments?
Constructing Objects and Calling Member functions

Recently I’ve learnt a bit about constructors but today i’ve been having trouble setting default values for the constructor parameter.

The constructor declaration in the hpp file looks like this:

class PlayingCard {
public:
    PlayingCard(int value = 0, int suit = 0); //default values supplied

and the definition in the cpp file looks like this:

PlayingCard::PlayingCard(int value, int suit) :  _faceValue(value), _suit(suit)
{}

(_faceValue and _suit are private members of PlayingCard)
When i go to test this like so:

PlayingCard card1();
PlayingCard card2(7, 1);

cout << "suit int value: " << card1.getSuit() <<
        " face value: " << card1.getFaceValue() << endl;
cout << "suit int value: " << card2.getSuit() <<
        " face value: " << card2.getFaceValue() << endl;

card2 works fine, if i comment out the code in relation to card1.
Otherwise i get the error:
request for member ‘getSuit’ in ‘card1’, which is of non-class type ‘PlayingCard()’.

Which must mean it doesn’t recognized use of the constructor without arguments? What am i doing wrong?

Answer 1

PlayingCard card1();

does not declare an object, it declares function.
It declares an function named card1 which takes no parameters and return an object of the type PlayingCard.

To declare an object you should do:

PlayingCard card1;

This is known as Most Vexing Parse in C++.
I am answering this second time today. Vexing Parse day it seems!