Defining Class Types

Class types are defined using class-specifiers. Class types can be declared using elaborated-type-specifiers as shown in Type Specifiers in Chapter 6.

Syntax

• class-specifier :
  class-head { member-list_opt }
• class-head :
  class-key imodel_opt identifier_opt base-spec_opt
  class-key imodel_opt class-name_opt base-spec_opt
• class-key :
  class
  struct
  union
• imodel :
  __declspec

Class names are introduced as identifiers immediately after the compiler processes them (before entry into the class body); they can be used to declare class members. This allows declaration of self-referential data structures, such as the following:

class Tree
{
public:
    void *Data;
    Tree *Left;
    Tree *Right;
};