Default values for array arguments

Question

Just playing around a little with C++. What I really want to do is to be able to setup a function with default values defined for an array or pointer argument. To keep thing

Answer 1

Your colleagues are wrong or maybe you misunderstood.

The first clue to understanding is that you cannot have an array as a function parameter in C or C++. The reasons are historical. So when you write void experimentA(char a[3] ...) the compiler automatically converts it to a pointer, i.e. void experimentA(char* a ...). So the real question is why "abc" is a suitable default value for a and { 'a', 'b', 'c' } is not. The reason is as the compiler explains, "abc" is an expression and { 'a', 'b', 'c' } is not (its an initialiser). There are some places in C++ where you can use an initialiser and some where you can't. Default value for a parameter just happens to be one of the places you can't.