Constructors and Destructors – C++ Source Code

The following C++ program demonstrates the concept of constructors and destructors in C++.

A constructor is a special method that is created when the object is created or defined. This particular method holds the same name as that of the object and it initializes the instance of the object whenever that object is created.

As opposed to a constructor, a destructor is called when a program has finished using an instance of an object. A destructor does the cleaning behind the scenes.

#include <iostream.h>

class rectangle {              // A simple class
   int height;
   int width;
public:
   rectangle(void);            // with a constuctor,
   int area(void);             // two methods,
   void initialize(int, int);
   ~rectangle(void);           // and a destructor
};


rectangle::rectangle(void)     // constuctor
{
   height = 6;
   width = 6;
}

int rectangle::area(void)      //Area of a rectangle
{
   return height * width;
}

void rectangle::initialize(int init_height, int init_width)
{
   height = init_height;
   width = init_width;
}

rectangle::~rectangle(void)    // destructor
{
   height = 0;
   width = 0;
}

struct pole {
   int length;
   int depth;
};


int main(void)
{
rectangle box, square;
pole flag_pole;

   cout << "The area of the box is " <<
                       box.area() << "\n";
   cout << "The area of the square is " <<
                       square.area() << "\n";

// box.height = 12;
// box.width = 10;
// square.height = square.width = 8;

   box.initialize(12, 10);
   square.initialize(8, 8);

   flag_pole.length = 50;
   flag_pole.depth = 6;

   cout << "The area of the box is " <<
                       box.area() << "\n";
   cout << "The area of the square is " <<
                       square.area() << "\n";

}

The output of the C++ Program

 The area of the box is 36
 The area of the square is 36
 The area of the box is 120
 The area of the square is 64