Inheriting constructors

Question

Why does this code:

class A
{
    public: 
        explicit A(int x) {}
};

class B: public A
{
};

int main(void)
{
    B *b = new B(5);
    delete b;
}
         


        

Answer 1

Constructors are not inherited. They are called implicitly or explicitly by the child constructor.

The compiler creates a default constructor (one with no arguments) and a default copy constructor (one with an argument which is a reference to the same type). But if you want a constructor that will accept an int, you have to define it explicitly.

class A
{
public: 
    explicit A(int x) {}
};

class B: public A
{
public:
    explicit B(int x) : A(x) { }
};

UPDATE: In C++11, constructors can be inherited. See Suma's answer for details.