Why is char initialized to 0xFF ?

[Mike Parker]

On Sunday, 9 June 2019 at 07:48:46 UTC, KnightMare wrote:

>
> ok. lets see structs now
> struct S { double d; }
> S s;

You can set the default initializer in this case:

struct S { double d = 0.0; }


> but initialize ints as 0, ptrs as null, chars as #FF, doubles 
> as NaN - is was invented under mushrooms
>

Not at all. It's quite practical for debugging. Uninitialized 
variables are a pain in C and C++. Default initializing to 
invalid values makes them stand out in the debugger. The drawback 
is that the integrals (and bool) have no invalid value, so we're 
stuck with 0 (and false).