[comp.lang.c++] Initialization Order of Statics/Globals

sdm@cs.brown.edu (Scott Meyers) (07/20/90)

What's the latest story on initialization order of statics and globals?  In
particular, can one rely on static data members of a class being
initialized before global objects of that class?  For example:

    class OneOnly {
      private:
        static int objectCount;

      public:
        OneOnly()
          {
          if (objectCount++ > 1) error("Too many objects");
          }
    };

    int OneOnly::objectCount = 0;

    OneOnly thisObject;

Can I rely on OneOnly::objectCount being initialized before thisObject?  I
took a look at E&S, but I'm still unclear on this point.

(By the way, I know that statics are pre-initialized to 0, so the question
for this example is moot, but the general question remains...)

Thanks,

Scott