Can't push_front() a standard library list with my objects in C++

Question

I have an class and I would like to use the standard library list to store a list of them. I essentially want to push_front() the list. So my code is like this:

#include <list>
/* ... lots of stuff ...*/

complexNode myObject();

std::list<complexNode> complexList();

myList.push_front(myObject);

But the compiler throws this error:

error: request for member ‘push_front’ in ‘complexList’, which is of non-class type ‘std::list<complexNode, std::allocator<complexNode> > ()()’

The class complexNode has a copy contructor.

I really don't understand the problem and what that error actually means... please help!

Answer 1

std::list complexList();

shouldn't this be :

std::list complexList; // without the ()

Answer 2

This:

std::list<complexNode> complexList();

Has the common name "C++'s most vexing parse". In short, you have made complexList be the declaration of a function that returns a list, instead of a local variable. Remove the (), then it cannot be parsed as a function.