Has the new C++11 member initialization feature at declaration made initialization lists obsolete?
No, they are not obsolete as this article Get to Know the New C++11 Initialization Forms says in the Class Member Initialization section (emphasis mine):
Bear in mind that if the same data member has both a class member initializer and a mem-init in the constructor, the latter takes precedence. In fact, you can take advantage of this behavior by specifying a default value for a member in the form of a class member initializer that will be used if the constructor doesn't have an explicit mem-init for that member. Otherwise, the constructor's mem-init will take effect, overriding the class member initializer. This technique is useful in classes that have multiple constructors
So although in class member initialization is a nice convenience it does not remove the need for initialization lists but both features instead work together to give you a nice way to specify default values and override them when needed. This seems to be also how Bjarne Stroustrup sees it too, he says:
This saves a bit of typing, but the real benefits come in classes with multiple constructors. Often, all constructors use a common initializer for a member:
and provides an example of members which have a common initializer:
class A {
public:
A(): a(7), b(5), hash_algorithm("MD5"), s("Constructor run") {}
A(int a_val) : a(a_val), b(5), hash_algorithm("MD5"), s("Constructor run") {}
A(D d) : a(7), b(g(d)), hash_algorithm("MD5"), s("Constructor run") {}
int a, b;
private:
HashingFunction hash_algorithm; // Cryptographic hash to be applied to all A instances
std::string s; // String indicating state in object lifecycle
};
and says:
The fact that hash_algorithm and s each has a single default is lost in the mess of code and could easily become a problem during maintenance. Instead, we can factor out the initialization of the data members:
class A {
public:
A(): a(7), b(5) {}
A(int a_val) : a(a_val), b(5) {}
A(D d) : a(7), b(g(d)) {}
int a, b;
private:
HashingFunction hash_algorithm{"MD5"}; // Cryptographic hash to be applied to all A instances
std::string s{"Constructor run"}; // String indicating state in object lifecycle
};
Note: disadvantage in C++11
There is one disadvantage to using in class member initialization in C++11 since it makes a class a non-aggregate we can no longer use aggregate initialization which may be rather surprising. This is not the case in C++14 where this restriction was removed. See: C++11 aggregate initialization for classes with non-static member initializers for more details.
No, they are not obsolete.
Initialization lists are still the only way to go if you need a constructor's arguments to initialize your class members.
class A
{
int a=7; //fine, give a default value
public:
A();
};
class B
{
int b;
public:
B(int arg) : b(arg) {}
B(int arg, bool b) : b(arg) { ... }
};
Note that if both are present, the constructor's initialization will take effect, overriding the class member initialization, which is useful to specify a default value for a class member.
The way I look at it, in-class initialization is an ehancement of mem-initializer-lists. In C++03, members not listed in a mem-initializer-list were always default initialised. This means the default constructor for classes, and no initialization for primitive types.
In-class initialization simply allows you to specify your own defaults. There are two ways to look at it.
One: if most/all constructors of your class want to provide the same initial value for a member, use an in-class initializer for that member. For other members, use mem-initializer-lists. You'll of course have to use those whenever the initial value depends on constructor arguments.
The other one: provide an in-class initializer for all members, exactly how the default constructor of your class would initialise them. Then, mem-initializer-lists in non-default constructors get the semantics of "how it differs from a default-constructed object."