C++ Primer Plus

C++11 Array Initialization

As Chapter 3, “Dealing with Data,” mentioned, C++11 makes the brace form of initialization (list-initialization) a universal form for all types. Arrays already use list-initialization, but the C++11 version adds a few more features.

First, you can drop the = sign when initializing an array:

double earnings[4] {1.2e4, 1.6e4, 1.1e4, 1.7e4};  // okay with C++11

Second, you can use empty braces to set all the elements to 0:

unsigned int counts[10] = {};  // all elements set to 0float balances[100] {};        // all elements set to 0

Third, as discussed in Chapter 3, list-initialization protects against narrowing:

long plifs[] = {25, 92, 3.0};            // not allowedchar slifs[4] {'h', 'i', 1122011, '\0'}; // not allowed ...