So it follows that, as 'a' is of type 'A', 'a' is defined in class A.
There is only one definition for all A's.
Are you suggesting that each instance has a seperate definition?
For fear of repeating some horrible behavior I recently did in C, IMHO
this is how it goes.
A declaration introduces a name into scope and gives a particular
meaning to that name.
A definition is some "thing" which gives a particular meaning to some
entity which is not a name. Such things include classes, types,
functions, objects, and so on. Usually there is exactly one definition
of any particular "thing" in any one program, aka the One Definition
Rule.
A definition is usually a declaration - a definition usually brings
into scope a new name with a particular meaning.
class Foo {};
The above is a declaration of the name Foo. It is also a definition of
the type with name Foo. It is a definition of a type, of a class, of a
class type, of an object type, of a user-defined type, and so on.
Usually we use shorthand and say it's the definition of Foo.
class Foo;
The above is a declaration of the name Foo. It declares that the name
Foo refers to a class type. It is not a definition of a type.
extern Foo bar;
The above is a declaration of the name bar. It declares that the name
bar refers to an object of type Foo. It is not a definition of a type.
It is not a definition of an object.
Foo baz = Foo();
The above is a declaration of the name baz. It declares that the name
baz refers to an object of type Foo. It is also a definition of an
object with the name baz. Usually we use shorthand and say it's the
definition of baz. This is not a declaration nor definition of the
type Foo.
Questions?
