function structure

[gmgarrison]

If I have a function defition written thus:

returntype functionname(paramtype paramname) : type(var) { }

what's the significance of the ": type(var)?" i guess i don't know what the colon operator does in that conext. thanks for the help!!

 

[palbano]

Dear gmgarrison,

> If I have a function defition written thus:

Stricktly speaking I believe you are asking about a 'constructor', not a 'function'.

> i guess i don't know what the colon operator does in that conext

It denotes the 'initialization list'. This is where members of the class can be initialized during object construction. This includes any base classes that the class is derived from, i.e.

class foo{
int _fooval;
public:
foo( int n){
_fooval = n;
}
};

class fooEx : public foo{
public:
// use initialization list to pass the value of x to the
// 'foo' constructor
fooEx(int x) : foo(x){}
};

Hope this helps
-pete