C++ How to Program, 10/e

11.4 Constructors and Destructors in Derived Classes

Instantiating a derived-class object begins a chain of constructor calls in which the derived-class constructor, before performing its own tasks, invokes its direct base class’s constructor either explicitly (via a base-class member initializer) or implicitly (calling the base class’s default constructor). Similarly, if the base class is derived from another class, the base-class constructor is required to invoke the constructor of the next class up in the hierarchy, and so on. The last constructor called in this chain is the one of the class at the base of the hierarchy, whose body actually finishes executing first. The most-derived-class constructor’s body finishes executing last. Each base-class ...