Inheriting constructors

Question

Why does this code:

class A
{
    public: 
        explicit A(int x) {}
};

class B: public A
{
};

int main(void)
{
    B *b = new B(5);
    delete b;
}

Result in these errors:

main.cpp: In function ‘int main()’:
main.cpp:13: error: no matching function for call to ‘B::B(int)’
main.cpp:8: note: candidates are: B::B()
main.cpp:8: note:                 B::B(const B&)

Shouldn't B inherit A's constructor?

(this is using gcc)

Answer 1

If your compiler supports C++11 standard, there is a constructor inheritance using using (pun intended). For more see Wikipedia C++11 article. You write:

class A
{
    public: 
        explicit A(int x) {}
};

class B: public A
{
     using A::A;
};

This is all or nothing - you cannot inherit only some constructors, if you write this, you inherit all of them. To inherit only selected ones you need to write the individual constructors manually and call the base constructor as needed from them.

Historically constructors could not be inherited in the C++03 standard. You needed to inherit them manually one by one by calling base implementation on your own.