define class constants in C++

[ChrisMaple]

I am designing a class of 144 bit floats, and I can't figure out how to create a constant with class scope.
Here is the relevant information:

#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <endian.h>
#include <stdint.h>

#if BYTE_ORDER == 1234
#define N0of2 0
#define N1of2 1
#elif BYTE_ORDER == 4321
#define N0of2 1
#define N1of2 0
#endif

union UINT128 {
  uint64_t d[2];
  uint32_t i[4];
  uint16_t s[8];
  uint8_t c[16];
}  __attribute__((packed)) ;

and

struct F144S {
#if __FLOAT_WORD_ORDER==1234
  UINT128 mant;
  int16_t exp;
#elif __FLOAT_WORD_ORDER==4321
  int16_t exp;
  UINT128 mant;
#endif
} __attribute__((packed)) ;

#include <ctype.h>

class float144 {
public:
union f_144 {
  uint8_t c[18];
  uint16_t s[9];
  struct F144S f; } fl;
float144() { } 
float144(f_144 x) { fl=x; }
// XXXX
};

If I replace // XXXX with
float144 ten1() { fl.f.exp=(0x400 2); fl.f.mant.d[N1of2]=0x400000000000 0000; fl.f.mant.d[N0of2]=0; return fl; }
I get something that can serve as a constant, but I don't like carrying around the parentheses. I want something like
static const float144 ten1 { ten1.f.exp=0x40 02; ten1.f.mant.d[N1of2]=0x400000000000 0000; ten1.f.mant.d[N0of2]=0; };
but after 2 days, I've been unable to find anything the gcc compiler will accept.

[Banfa]

You mean something like this

// Header
class example
{
public:
   example(int init) :
   m_Data(int)
   {
   }

   ~example()
   {
   }

   static const example e10;

private:
   int m_Data;
};

// Source File
const example example::e10(10);

[ChrisMaple]

Thanks, you gave me the clue I needed to make progress. I made a new constructor, and was able to do what I wanted, although not within the class definition. Later, I learned that (at least until C++0x) static const in-class initialization is only allowed with integers. To get what I want without having to learn all about templates, I'm going to have to use #define and #undef. Note that the data I'm trying to initialize is a struct in a union in a class, and the grammar to do that is (I think) in some cases ambiguous.