Why does C++ allow an integer to be assigned to a string?

Question

I encountered an interesting situation today in a program where I inadvertantly assigned an unsigned integer to a std::string. The VisualStudio C++ compiler did not give an

Answer 1

The std::string class has the following assignment operator defined:

string& operator=( char ch );

This operator is invoked by implicit conversion of unsigned int to char.

In your third case, you are using an explicit constructor to instantiate a std::string, none of the available constructors can accept an unsigned int, or use implicit conversion from unsigned int:

string();
string( const string& s );
string( size_type length, const char& ch );
string( const char* str );
string( const char* str, size_type length );
string( const string& str, size_type index, size_type length );
string( input_iterator start, input_iterator end );