Non-standard compiler??

[brighamandrew]

I am working out of a book that claims that their examples comply to standard C++. There is a particular line of code in an example in their book that is generating errors for my compiler:

if ((char ch = inBuf[ix]) == '.')
{
    /*various code here*/
}

It generates the error:
error C2146: syntax error : missing ')' before identifier 'ch'

The book does say that using 'ch' here in this case is unnecessary but it was used to illustrate a point.

I am using Visual C++ 6.0.
Any insight would be appreciated, thanks.

[Raezzor]

Not sure if it's because VC6 is too old or not. Have you tried with another compiler? GCC is up to 4.7.2 and is pretty current with C++11 standard.

[guestgulkan]

which book is that, because I believe that statement is illegal in C++.

[Peter87]

This is not allowed. You will have to declare ch outside the if statement.

char ch;
if ((ch = inBuf[ix]) == '.')
{
    /*various code here*/
}

[brighamandrew]

Thanks for the responses, the book is C++ primer 3rd edition.

[Cubbi]

Third edition is from early 1998, when the first revision of the standard was just on its way to publication. Even the coauthors of C++ can make mistakes. Get the fifth edition, from 2012.