Must I use pointers for my C++ class fields?

Question

After reading a question on the difference between pointers and references, I decided that I'd like to use references instead of pointers for my class fields. However it seems that this is not possible, because they cannot be declared uninitialized (right?).

In the particular scenario I'm working on right now, I don't want to use normal variables (what's the correct term for them by the way?) because they're automatically initialized when I declare them.

In my snippet, bar1 is automatically instantiated with the default constructor (which isn't what I want), &bar2 causes a compiler error because you can't use uninitialized references (correct?), and *bar3 is happy as larry because pointers can be declared uninitialized (by the way, is it best practice to set this to NULL?).

class Foo
{
public:
    Bar bar1;
    Bar &bar2;
    Bar *bar3;
}

It looks like I have to use pointers in this scenario, is this true? Also, what's the best way of using the variable? The -> syntax is a bit cumbersome... Tough luck? What about smart pointers, etc? Is this relevant?

Update 1:

After attempting to implement a reference variable field in my class and initializing it in the constructor, why might I receive the following error?

../src/textures/VTexture.cpp: In constructor ‘vimrid::textures::VTexture::VTexture()’:
../src/textures/VTexture.cpp:19: error: uninitialized reference member ‘vimrid::textures::VTexture::image’

Here's the real code:

// VTexture.h
class VTexture
{
public:
    VTexture(vimrid::imaging::ImageMatrix &rImage);
private:
    vimrid::imaging::ImageMatrix ℑ
}

// VTexture.cpp
VTexture::VTexture(ImageMatrix &rImage)
    : image(rImage)
{
}

I've also tried doing this in the header, but no luck (I get the same error).

// VTexture.h
class VTexture
{
public:
    VTexture(vimrid::imaging::ImageMatrix &rimage) : image(rImage) { }
}

Update 2:

Fred Larson - Yes! There is a default constructor; I neglected it because I thought it wasn't relevant to the problem (how foolish of me). After removing the default constructor I caused a compiler error because the class is used with a std::vector which requires there to be a default constructor. So it looks like I must use a default constructor, and therefore must use a pointer. Shame... or is it? :)

Answer 1

They can be initialized. You just have to use the member initializer list.

Foo::Foo(...) : bar1(...), bar2(...), bar3(...)
{
  // Whatever
}

It's a good idea to initialize all of your member variables this way. Otherwise, for other than primitive types, C++ will initialize them with a default constructor anyway. Assigning them within the braces is actually reassigning them, not initializing them.

Also, keep in mind that the member initializer list specifies HOW to initialize the member variables, NOT THE ORDER. Members are initialized in the order in which they are declared, not in the order of the initializers.