Thread: Simple problem with classes

What you are trying to do is a circular arrangement of classes, where class A contains class B, which in turn contains class A. Since the compiler needs to know the size and content of A to know the size and content of B, you'll end up with an infinite loop of unknown sizes.

You can use a reference or a pointer, but not include the class itself inside another class.

--
Mats

You have to use forward declarations instead of including the other headers. To declare a pointer (or a reference) the full type doesn't have to be known, the compiler simply needs to be assured that a class by this name exists.

Also see the comment about the constructor:

Code:

#if ! defined ( Father_C )
#define Father_C

//#include <stdio.h>  //not used

//#include "son.h"     //don't have to be included 
//#include "daughter.h" //and cannot be if you have circular dependencies

//tell compiler that classes called son and daughter exist
class son;
class daughter;

class Father
{
private:
	son *sons;
        daughter *daughters;

public:
	Father(){
		//son jack;
/*
This doesn't do anything - it creates a local son object that only exists in the constructor
If you really need to do something like that, the full definition of Son must be available:
you have to provide the implementation in the separate cpp file that can include "son.h"
*/
		
	};
	~Father();

};

#endif