C 2352 trouble

[jrains86]

So I'm trying to get some C++ under my belt before classes resume in January, and have created a simple class to get comfy using them. However, when I try to call the function makefriends, I get the C2352 error message, and do not understand the why. Any insight into my predicament? My code is as follows:

#include <stdafx.h>
#include <iostream>
#include <string>
#define SZ 10

using namespace std;

class people   {
public:
      string names[SZ];      
      void makefriends(string, string);
};

int main()
{
   people buddies;
   int num;
   cout<<"Enter the name of a friend."<<endl;
   getline(cin, buddies.names[0]);
   cout<<"Enter another friend's name."<<endl;
   getline(cin, buddies.names[1]);
   people::makefriends(buddies.names[0], buddies.names[1]);
   cin>>num;
   return 0;
}

[rabbit]

First, instantiate buddies.  Second, where's the body of the class?  Third, don't use ::, use ->.  Fourth, do you know what C2352 is?

[MyndFyre]

From http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/2x426hte(VS.80).aspx -
Compiler Error C2352
Error Message
'class::function' : illegal call of non-static member function

A static member function called a nonstatic member function. Or, a nonstatic member function was called from outside the class as a static function.

It's because you're calling people::makefriends as a static function, but it's really a class instance function.  As rabbit pointed out, you'd need to call it via your "buddies" object (although, instead of using the implicit dereference operator, you should use the dot operator: buddies.makefriends(buddies.names[0], buddies.names[1]) since "buddies" is not a pointer).

@rabbit: Recall that C++ isn't like Java or C# in that you don't have to "new" an object in order to have an instance of it.  By declaring people buddies; he's creating a stack-based instance of the object; he's just not initializing it so it'll have garbage.

[rabbit]

Yeah well....