Not using parentheses in constructor call with new (c++)

Question

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Do the parentheses after the type name make a difference with new?

So I had in my main:

Class* pC = new Class;

It was working as

Class* pC = new Class();

I realized just today that I had omitted the parentheses (so I was hit by the "opposite" of the most vexing parse in a way).

My question: Are these two forms equivalent ?

Both calls invoke the default constructor. – Vijay Mathew Mar 06 '11 at 14:41 — Vijay Mathew, Mar 06 '11 at 14:41

score 50 · Accepted Answer · answered Mar 06 '11 at 14:40

50

If the class has a default constructor defined, then both are equivalent; the object will be created by calling that constructor.

If the class only has an implicit default constructor, then there is a difference. The first will leave any members of POD type uninitialised; the second will value-initialise them (i.e. set them to zero).

answered Mar 06 '11 at 14:40

Mike Seymour

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+1, didn't know about this difference. – Matteo Italia Mar 06 '11 at 14:41

Not using parentheses in constructor call with new (c++)

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