🚀 go-pugleaf

"john (j.d.) hickin" <hickin@bnr.ca> writes:

>A recent thread in another newsgroup has aroused some interest.  Lately there
>has been a small debate around the interpretation of the following phrase,
>ostensibly taken from the DWP:
>
>	A reference shall be initialized to refer to a valid object or function.

The January 96 WP doesn't contain those words, or at least I couldn't spot
them.  It says instead

|   8.5.3  References                                       [dcl.init.ref]
| 
| 1 A  variable  declared  to  be  a  T&,  that  is  "reference to type T"
|   (_dcl.ref_), shall be initialized by an object, or function, of type T
|   or by an object that can be converted into a T.  [Example:
|           int g(int);
|           void f()
|           {
|               int i;
|               int& r = i;  // `r' refers to `i'

This is straight out of ARM 8.4.3 (the only change is that "must" has
been replaced with "shall"), so it hasn't changed for a long time.

>One party claims that valid object means initialized object while another
>claims that all is required is that the object have a valid address.
>
>Does the DWP make it clear which interpretation should be used?

Yes: the latter interpretation is correct.  It is OK to initialize
a reference to refer to an uninitialized object, as in the example above.

--
Fergus Henderson <fjh@cs.mu.oz.au>   |  "I have always known that the pursuit
WWW: <http://www.cs.mu.oz.au/~fjh>   |  of excellence is a lethal habit"
PGP: finger fjh@128.250.37.3         |     -- the last words of T. S. Garp.
---
[ comp.std.c++ is moderated.  To submit articles: Try just posting with your 
                newsreader.  If that fails, use mailto:std-c++@ncar.ucar.edu
  comp.std.c++ FAQ: http://reality.sgi.com/austern/std-c++/faq.html
  Moderation policy: http://reality.sgi.com/austern/std-c++/policy.html
  Comments? mailto:std-c++-request@ncar.ucar.edu 
]