Constructors allow the initialisation of the state of an object when it is created. Suppose we were to initialise the states of an object using the following format:

  // Is this OK?
  class account{
    int myAccountNumber = 242343;
    float myBalance = 0.00;

    public:
      //etc..
  };

No this is not sufficient!:

A Constructor can be used for this task:

So using constructors with the Account class:

 1 
 2   // Basic Bank Account Example with Constructors
 3  
 4   #include<iostream>
 5  
 6   using namespace std;
 7  
 8   class Account{
 9 
10     int accountNumber;
11     float balance;
12 
13   public:
14 
15     Account(float, int); 
16     virtual void display();
17     virtual void makeLodgement(float);
18     virtual void makeWithdrawal(float);
19   };
20   
21   Account::Account(float aBalance, int anAccNumber) 
22   {
23      accountNumber = anAccNumber;
24      balance = aBalance;
25   }
26 
27   void Account::display()
28   {
29     cout << "account number: " << accountNumber
30       << " has balance: " << balance << " Euro" << endl;
31   }
32 
33   void Account::makeLodgement(float amount)
34   {
35     balance = balance + amount;
36   }
37 
38   void Account::makeWithdrawal(float amount)
39   {
40     balance = balance - amount;
41   }
42 
43   int main()
44   { 
45     Account anAccount = Account(35.00, 1234); //OK 
46     Account testAccount(0.0, 1235);           //OK 
47     //Account myAccount = Account();             //Wrong! 
48     
49     anAccount.display();
50     testAccount.display();
51   }
52 

The source code for this is in BasicAccount2.cpp

	The constructor definition. Note it has the exact same name as the class name and has no return type.
	This is the implementation of the constructor. In this case it simply sets the states of the class to the values passed. Once a constructor is supplied it must be used. Every class has a default constructor (with no parameters), but once a new constructor is defined the default constructor is no longer available.
	The anAccount object is created with an account number of 34234324 and a balance of 35.00.
	This constructor call is exactly the same as the previous call only with a different notation, so a testAccount object is created with an account number of 34234325 and a balance of 0.00.
	This constructor call is not valid as the default constructor is no longer available (the one with no parameters) as a new non-default constructor has been defined.

Constructors and Member Initialisation Lists

Instead of the notation used above to set the states of the object, we can also use a member initialisation list, that sets the states within the constructor definition. So, if we use member initialisation lists with the previous constructor, it would look like:

  // the constructor code implementation
  Account::Account(float aBalance, int anAccountNumber) : 
      accountNumber(anAccountNumber), balance (aBalance)  
  {
	// anything else, place here!
  }

	The : denotes the use of the Member Initialisation List.
	The accountNumber(anAccountNumber) call is the same as using the statement accountNumber = anAccountNumber;

This format may seem complex, but if the class contains an object that must be initialised in the constructor (i.e. IS A PART OF) then the member initialisation list must be used.