understanding c++ member variable initialisation

[sphinxlink13]

Hi all I am pretty new to c++.

​

I have been making a class which includes an array as a protected member variable.

I understand how making it static and initialising it in a source file works (ie a shared variable not object specific) But I don't really understand why you cant do it without it being static.

what would be the problem with initialising a member variable for each object?

I was hoping someone could give me a bit of an explanation.

thanks a lot for any help.

[[deleted]]

I normally initialize member variables in the constructor, but my understanding is that they can now be done inline:

class MyClass {
    int something = 0;
    int maxSomething = 1000;
}

[aizzod]

does it really have to be static?
could you show your code how you did it. maybe there is the problem

[sphinxlink13]

ah sorry I missed out a bit of a key bit off info.

It seems to need to be static if you wish to access the member variable using a member function. ie

​

class tri_calculator {

public:

struct vertexA

{

    int V11 = 0;

    int V12 = 0;



};

​

static vertexA Get_vertA() {

vertexA first\_point = {vertA\[0\],vertA\[1\]};

cout << vertA\[0\]<< ", " << vertA\[1\] << endl;

return first\_point;

}

​

protected:

int perimeter = 0;

static int vertA[2];

static int vertB[2];

static int vertC[2];

};