Why a static member cannot be initialized within a class

reprint: http://www.cnblogs.com/graphics/archive/2010/07/07/1772733.html Why static members cannot be initialized within a class

In C + +, static members of a class (static member) must be declared within the class, initialized outside the class, as in the following.

Class a{  private:    static int count;//class declaration};int A::count = 0;//out-of-class initialization eliminates the need to add static keyword

Why? Because static members belong to the entire class and not to an object, it is contradictory to initialize within a class to cause each object to contain that static member.

What can be initialized within a class.

There is only one member that can be initialized in a class, which is a static constant member.

Not this way.

Class a{  private: static    int count = 0;//static members cannot be initialized within a class};

That's not true.

Class a{  private:    const int count = 0;//constant member cannot initialize within class};

But this can

Class a{  private: static    const int count = 0;//static constant members can be initialized within the class};

　　

Why a static member cannot be initialized within a class