initializing static members

Hello,

Compiling with GCC

I am wondering why I have to declare the static value outside the class, even though I have declared it inside the class.

I understand that static members belong to the class and not the object created by the class. And private static members can only be accessed from static functions. However, it seems like I am declaring the s_nValue twice.

Can anyone explain why this is.

Many thanks,

Code:

---

class Something 
{ 
 private: 
    static int s_nValue; 
 public: 
    static int GetValue() { return s_nValue; } 
 }; 
 
int Something::s_nValue = 1; // initializer 
 
int main() 
{ 
    std::cout << Something::GetValue() << std::endl; 
}

---

A static member variable only exists ONCE - it is essentially a global variable except for it not being visible outside of the class. Since the compiler can't really decide on it's own where it should be initialized [order of initialization of gloabl objects is somewhat "magical" anyways, without the compiler making it more difficult to see].

So you need to put a line somewhere in the code to tell the compiler where you want that variable to be initialized.

--
Mats