Why is a default constructor required when storing in a map?

Question

I'm getting the error:

error: no matching function for call to 'A::A()'
note: candidates are: A::A(const A&)
note:                 A::A(const std::string&, size_t)

From this:

#include <map>
#include <string>

using std::map;
using std::string;

class A {
public:
    string path;
    size_t size;
    A (const string& p, size_t s) : path(p), size(s) { }
    A (const A& f) : path(f.path), size(f.size) { }
    A& operator=(const A& rhs) {
        path = rhs.path;
        size = rhs.size;
        return *this;
    }
};

int main(int argc, char **argv)
{
    map<string, A> mymap;

    A a("world", 1);
    mymap["hello"] = a;      // <----- here
    A b(mymap["hello"]);     // <----- and here
}

Please tell me why the code wants a constructor with no parameters.

Answer 1

Because map requires DefaultConstructible values, since when using subscript operator and the key is not found it adds it mapped to a default constructed value.