this code compiles and runs without errors:
class foo{
static foo *ref;
foo(){}
public:
static foo *getRef(){
return ref;
}
void bar(){}
};
foo* foo::ref = new foo; // the construcrtor is private!
int main(int argc, const char *argv[])
{
foo* f = foo::getRef();
f->bar();
return 0;
}
could somebody explain why can the constructor be called?
That scope isn't global - static members are at class scope, and so their initialization expression is also at class scope.
The answer is that it is not available in the global scope. The initializer of a static member is defined to be inside the class scope, so it has access to the private members.
§9.4.2/2 [...]The initializer expression in the definition of a static data member is in the scope of its class (3.3.6).
This form of initialization of static members are not necessary in older c++. They are made compulsary in later release of c++.
And, this form of static member initialization will generally used to initialize the static members before creation of any class objects.
(E.g) int MyClass::objectsCounter=0;
But by,
foo* foo::ref = new foo;
this statement you are just initializing a static member (which is of pointer type) by creating a new object.
And in this case you are intializing a private member by calling a private method of its own class.
Hence there is no role of globe scope here.
