title: What does : :: mean in C++?
body: <blockquote>
    <p><strong>Possible Duplicate:</strong><br>
    <a href="https://stackoverflow.com/questions/1711990/what-is-this-weird-colon-member-syntax-in-the-constructor">What is this weird colon-member syntax in the constructor?</a>  </p>
  </blockquote>
  
  
  
  <p>I thought i knew everything but something always seems to pop up. Maybe i am forgetting something. What does the <code>: ::name</code> mean? I suspect <code>::google</code> means from the global namespace use <code>google</code>, <code>protobuf</code>, <code>message</code>. But what does the <code>:</code> do before it? Theres no text on the left so it cant be a label (or can it?!). So what is it?</p>
  
  <pre><code>Namespace::Namespace()
    : ::google::protobuf::Message() {
    SharedCtor();
  }
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>-edit- I feel silly, the indention got me. I thought i was looking inside the function body. I was so hoping it would be something new. </p>