How should I implement a static collection of Strings in my class - c++

Question

I am very new to C++ so this might be an easy question to answer. I am writing a class (Person) and when a Person is created it should be assigned a random name from a collection of predefined names. So within the Person class I would like to define some sort of static collection of strings that I can access randomly and therefore I would also need to know how many there are.
I am using Qt here too, so the solution should preferably be using things from the standard library or the Qt library.
I am from a Java background and in Java I would probably do something like:
private static final String[] NAMES = { "A", "B" };
What would be the equivalent in this case?

Answer 1

You could use QStringList.
Person.h:
class Person
{
private:
static QStringList names;
};
Person.cpp:
QStringList Person::names = QStringList() << "Arial" << "Helvetica"
<< "Times" << "Courier";

Answer 2

Assuming C++03:
class YourClass {
static const char*const names[];
static const size_t namesSize;
};
// in one of the translation units (*.cpp)
const char*const YourClass::names[] = {"A", "B"};
const size_t YourClass::namesSize = sizeof(YourClass::names) / sizeof(YourClass::names[0]);
Assuming C++0x:
class YourClass {
static const std::vector<const char*> names;
};
// in one of the translation units (*.cpp)
const vector<const char*> YourClass::names = {"A", "B"};
And of course you can use your favorite string type instead of const char*.

Answer 3

First, a very simple program for generating random names from a static array. The proper class implementation can be found further down.
#include <iostream>
#include <string>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <time.h>
// import the std namespace (to avoid having to use std:: everywhere)
using namespace std;
// create a constant array of strings
static string const names[] = { "James", "Morrison",
"Weatherby", "George", "Dupree" };
// determine the number of names in the array
static int const num_names = sizeof(names)/sizeof(names[0]);
// declare the getRandomName() function
string getRandomName();
// standard main function
int main (int argc, char * argv[])
{
// seed the random number generator
srand(time(0));
// pick a random name and print it
cout << getRandomName() << endl;
// return 0 (no error)
return 0;
}
// define the getRandomName() function
string getRandomName()
{
// pick a random name (% is the modulo operator)
return names[rand()%num_names];
}
Class implementation
Person.h
#ifndef PERSON_
#define PERSON_
#include <string>
class Person
{
private:
std::string p_name;
public:
Person();
std::string name();
};
#endif
Person.cpp
#include "Person.h"
#include <stdlib.h>
using namespace std;
static string const names[] = { "James", "Morrison",
"Weatherby", "George", "Dupree" };
static int const num_names = sizeof(names)/sizeof(names[0]);
Person::Person() : p_name(names[rand()%num_names]) { }
string Person::name() { return p_name; }
main.cpp
#include <iostream>
#include <string>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <time.h>
#include "Person.h"
using namespace std;
int main (int argc, char * argv[])
{
// seed the random number generator
srand(time(0));
// create 3 Person instances
Person p1, p2, p3;
// print their names
cout << p1.name() << endl;
cout << p2.name() << endl;
cout << p3.name() << endl;
// return 0 (no error)
return 0;
}