C / C++ / MFC

Aescleal wrote:

So where would you use a class static instead of just declaring a variable in an anonymous namespace?

Aescleal wrote:

They've got exactly the same visibility, thread safety issues and initialisation order problems

Tim Craig wrote:

I suppose the classic example is where you want to keep stats on the class such has how many instances are currently running rampant.

template<class T> 
class InstanceCountable { :) 
 static int sCounter;
protected:
 InstanceCountable() {
  InstanceCountable<T>::sCounter++;
 }
 ~InstanceCountable() {
  InstanceCountable<T>::sCounter--;
 }
public:
 static GetCount() {
  return InstanceCountable<T>::sCounter;
 }
};

template<class T>
int InstanceCountable<T>::sCounter(0);

// ...and then

class A : public InstanceCountable<A> {
 //...
};

class B : public InstanceCountable<B> {
 //...
};

// etc...

int main() {
 A a1, a2;
 std::array<B, 10> barr;

 std::cout << 
  A::GetCount() << std::endl // prints 2
  B::GetCount() << std::endl;// prints 10
}

// in AStuff.h
class AStuff {
public:
 void Hello() {
  // ...
 }
};

// in A.h
class A {
public:
 static AStuff sStaticAMember; // <-declaration
};

// in A.cpp
AStuff A::sStaticAMember; //<-definition (required!)