Value initialization - c++

Question

$8.5/7 states that
— if T is a (possibly cv-qualified) non-union class type without a user-provided constructor, then the object
is zero-initialized and, if T’s implicitly-declared default constructor is non-trivial, that constructor is
called.
I am unable to appreciate the last part of this statement "if T’s implicitly-declared default constructor is non-trivial, that constructor is called."
Can someone please explain this with an example?
class A
{
int x;
};
class B : A {};
B b{};
I think B in the code above is having a non-trivial constructor. But how do I observe call to B's implicitly declared constructor and make sure that my compiler is calling it?

Answer 1

I think B in the code above is having a non-trivial constructor.
In your example, the constructor is trivial.
Looking at the conditions in C++11 12.1/5, neither class has a user-declared constructor, virtual functions, virtual base classes, members with initialisers, or members of class type; A has no base classes and B only has a trivial base class.
But how do I observe call to B's implicitly declared constructor and make sure that my compiler is calling it?
One way to make a class with an implicit, but non-trivial, default constructor is to have a non-trivial member or base class:
struct A {
// A user-declared constructor is non-trivial
A() {std::cout << "Construct A\n";}
};
struct B : A {};
Now you can (indirectly) observe the implicit constructor of B being called, by observing the side-effect when it calls the constructor of A.

Answer 2

Explanation after N3797:
A function is user-provided if it is user-declared and not explicitly
defaulted or deleted on its first declaration.
Therefore, since you don't declare a default constructor for B, it is not user-provided.
The following then applies:
A default constructor is trivial if it is not user-provided and if:
— its class has no virtual functions (10.3) and no virtual base
classes (10.1), and
— no non-static data member of its class has a
brace-or-equal-initializer, and
— all the direct base classes of its class have trivial default
constructors, and
— for all the non-static data members of its class that are of class
type (or array thereof), each such class has a trivial default
constructor.
So it is indeed trivial, since we can apply the same procedure recursively for A.
Other examples:
struct A { A() = default; }; // Trivial default constructor!
struct A { A() = delete; }; // Also trivial!
struct A { A(); }; // Can't be trivial!
struct B { virtual void f(); }
struct A : B {}; // Non-trivial default constructor.
struct B {};
struct A : virtual B {}; // Non-trivial default constructor.

Answer 3

Imagine you have this one
struct A {
string a;
int value;
};
int main() {
A a = A();
return a.value;
}
a.value is zero when we return that value, because the object was zero-initialized. But that is not enough, because a also contains a string member which has a constructor. For that constructor to be called, the standard arranges that A's constructor is called, which will eventually lead to constructing the member.