chain of constructors

hi!
There is a base class in my program from which I have built a subclass.
As you can see, I have defined 2 constructors for my base class "Account".

Code:

---

class Account
{
public:
        int account_number;
        int Deposit;

        Account(int number, int money): account_number(number) , Deposit(money) {}
        Account(int number)
        {
                account_number=number;
                Deposit=0;
        }
}

---

Then There is my subclass defined as:
class ShortTerm: public Account

I've got 2 questions here.
first, isn't it true that when the attributes"account_number" and "Deposit" have been declared in my base class, the subclass is prone to know them? so i don't have to declare them in the subclass once more? and if I do, don't they represent some other new attributes with the scope ShortTerm( for instance-> ShortTerm:: Deposit ) which coincidently have the same name as the attributes of the base class?
if all what I've written above is true, then why can't I set Deposit and account_number in the base class constructor?
I've tried this:

Code:

---

ShortTerm(int number, int money): account_number(number) , Deposit(money){
interest=12;
}
//interest is a new attribute declared in the subclass ShortTerm

---

it draws a line under Deposit and account_number with the following error:
"Deposit" is not a non static data member or base class of class ShortTerm.

now, my second question:
how can I call a chain of constructors?
having confronted the error mentioned above, I came up with the idea of calling the constructor of the base class in the constructor of the subclass. so that by this method, I may succeed to set the values of Deposit and account_number.
By the way, is it necessary to do so?

Quote:

---

first, isn't it true that when the attributes"account_number" and "Deposit" have been declared in my base class, the subclass is prone to know them? so i don't have to declare them in the subclass once more?

---

Wrong. Only sub-classes objects can know the information.,....

Quote:

---

how can I call a chain of constructors?

---

When you call a subclass constructor, it automates itself to the parent class constructor.
NOTE: I'll recommend you to read the OOP tutorials.

In the subclass constructor, you call the base class constructor in the initializer list:

Code:

---

ShortTerm(int number, int money): Account(number, money), interest(12) { }

---

The constructor should only directly set the fields defined in that class. Fields defined in a base class should be handled by a base class constructor.

Also, in your example of Account, the second constructor which passes a single argument should use an initializer list, just as the first one does.

ok thank you so much :)