Constructor Definition Syntax

The class needs a constructor. Constructor definitions look like this:

className( parameterList )
{
  Statements that usually use the variables of the 
  class and the parameters in the parameterList.
}

No return type is listed in front of className. The return type is automatically a reference to an object of the class. There is no return statement in the body of the constructor. A reference is automatically returned without you asking for it. (There would be no reason to have a constructor, otherwise.) The constructor has the same name as the class. The parameterList is a list of values and their types that will be sent to the constructor when it makes a new object. Parameter lists look like this (the same as parameter lists for methods):

TypeName1 parameterName1, TypeName2 parameterName2, ... as many as you need

It is OK to have an empty parameter list. A class often has several constructors with different parameters. Each one builds the same class of object, but will initialize it differently.

Usually the method that invokes a constructor saves the returned reference in a variable. But sometimes an object is constructed for temporary use and its reference is not saved. The object is used but once for some brief purpose and then becomes garbage.