C++ error C2533, ctor : constructors not allowed a return type [closed]

Question

I have a class called teacher

 class Teacher
{
private:
    int ID;
    string qualification;
    double salary;
    Date DOB;
    Date dateJoined;
public:
    Teacher();
    void setTeacher (int, string, double);
    string getQualification();
    void displayTeacher();
}
//This is my constructor
Teacher::Teacher()
{
     ID = 0;
     qualification =" " ;
     salary=0.0;
}

I got an error C2533: 'Teacher::{ctor}' : constructors not allowed a return type. where did i go wrong?

Answer 1

You did not put a semicolon after the class definition.

This confuses the parser, which now thinks you're writing something like this:

 class {}     functionName(args) {}
 ^^^^^^^^     ^^^^^^^^^^^^
return type   constructors
 defined     are functions, but
 in-place     they don't have
  (oops)       return types!
                 (oops)

Modern GCC (say, 4.9.2) is quite clear about this problem:

class Teacher
{
    Teacher();
}

Teacher::Teacher()
{}

// main.cpp:3:1: error: new types may not be defined in a return type
//  class Teacher
//  ^
// main.cpp:3:1: note: (perhaps a semicolon is missing after the definition of 'Teacher')
// main.cpp:8:18: error: return type specification for constructor invalid
//  Teacher::Teacher()
//                  ^

(live demo)