Chapter 2. Constructors, Destructors, and Assignment Operators

Almost every class you write will have one or more constructors, a destructor, and a copy assignment operator. Little wonder. These are your bread-and-butter functions, the ones that control the fundamental operations of bringing a new object into existence and making sure it's initialized, getting rid of an object and making sure it's properly cleaned up, and giving an object a new value. Making mistakes in these functions will lead to far-reaching and unpleasant repercussions throughout your classes, so it's vital that you get them right. In this chapter, I offer guidance on putting together the functions that comprise the backbone of well-formed classes.