diff --git a/moses/parameters/BookkeepingOptions.cpp b/moses/parameters/BookkeepingOptions.cpp
index db8fbd909..891a424c0 100644
--- a/moses/parameters/BookkeepingOptions.cpp
+++ b/moses/parameters/BookkeepingOptions.cpp
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
 
 namespace Moses
 {
+
 bool
 BookkeepingOptions::
 init(Parameter const& P)
@@ -15,4 +16,10 @@ init(Parameter const& P)
   }
   return true;
 }
+
+BookkeepingOptions::
+BookkeepingOptions()
+  : need_alignment_info(false)
+{ }
+
 }
diff --git a/moses/parameters/BookkeepingOptions.h b/moses/parameters/BookkeepingOptions.h
index 0fd046766..d54bccc0a 100644
--- a/moses/parameters/BookkeepingOptions.h
+++ b/moses/parameters/BookkeepingOptions.h
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ namespace Moses
   {
     bool need_alignment_info;
     bool init(Parameter const& param);
+    BookkeepingOptions();
   };
   
 
diff --git a/moses/parameters/CubePruningOptions.cpp b/moses/parameters/CubePruningOptions.cpp
index b4ebb0d5e..793ae2db6 100644
--- a/moses/parameters/CubePruningOptions.cpp
+++ b/moses/parameters/CubePruningOptions.cpp
@@ -4,6 +4,14 @@
 namespace Moses 
 {
 
+  CubePruningOptions::
+  CubePruningOptions() 
+    : pop_limit(DEFAULT_CUBE_PRUNING_POP_LIMIT)
+    , diversity(DEFAULT_CUBE_PRUNING_DIVERSITY)
+    , lazy_scoring(false)
+    , deterministic_search(false)
+  {}
+
   bool
   CubePruningOptions::
   init(Parameter const& param)
diff --git a/moses/parameters/CubePruningOptions.h b/moses/parameters/CubePruningOptions.h
index 9f85520ea..0545b6610 100644
--- a/moses/parameters/CubePruningOptions.h
+++ b/moses/parameters/CubePruningOptions.h
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ namespace Moses
 
     bool init(Parameter const& param);
     CubePruningOptions(Parameter const& param);
-    CubePruningOptions() {};
+    CubePruningOptions();
 
     bool 
     update(std::map<std::string,xmlrpc_c::value>const& params);
diff --git a/moses/parameters/InputOptions.cpp b/moses/parameters/InputOptions.cpp
index f81f26acf..02faf75d3 100644
--- a/moses/parameters/InputOptions.cpp
+++ b/moses/parameters/InputOptions.cpp
@@ -9,10 +9,15 @@ namespace Moses {
 
   InputOptions::
   InputOptions()
+    : continue_partial_translation(false)
+    , default_non_term_only_for_empty_range(false)
+    , input_type(SentenceInput)
+    , xml_policy(XmlPassThrough)
+    , placeholder_factor(NOT_FOUND)
   { 
     xml_brackets.first  = "<";
     xml_brackets.second = ">";
-    input_type = SentenceInput;
+    factor_order.assign(1,0);
   }
 
   bool
diff --git a/moses/parameters/LMBR_Options.cpp b/moses/parameters/LMBR_Options.cpp
index 808be5f18..e3b5d038d 100644
--- a/moses/parameters/LMBR_Options.cpp
+++ b/moses/parameters/LMBR_Options.cpp
@@ -3,6 +3,16 @@
 
 namespace Moses {
 
+  LMBR_Options::
+  LMBR_Options() 
+    : enabled(false)
+    , use_lattice_hyp_set(false)
+    , precision(0.8f)
+    , ratio(0.6f)
+    , map_weight(0.8f)
+    , pruning_factor(30)
+  { }
+
   bool
   LMBR_Options::
   init(Parameter const& param)
@@ -20,5 +30,8 @@ namespace Moses {
     
     return true;
   }
-  
+
+
+
+
 }
diff --git a/moses/parameters/LMBR_Options.h b/moses/parameters/LMBR_Options.h
index 54fd0fcd0..2f33c36d8 100644
--- a/moses/parameters/LMBR_Options.h
+++ b/moses/parameters/LMBR_Options.h
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ namespace Moses
     size_t pruning_factor; //! average number of nodes per word wanted in pruned lattice
     std::vector<float> theta; //! theta(s) for lattice mbr calculation
     bool init(Parameter const& param);
-    LMBR_Options() {}
+    LMBR_Options();
   };
 
 }
diff --git a/moses/parameters/MBR_Options.cpp b/moses/parameters/MBR_Options.cpp
index 9a9fbc966..a1a897399 100644
--- a/moses/parameters/MBR_Options.cpp
+++ b/moses/parameters/MBR_Options.cpp
@@ -3,14 +3,22 @@
 
 namespace Moses {
 
-bool
-MBR_Options::
-init(Parameter const& param)
-{
-  param.SetParameter(enabled, "minimum-bayes-risk", false);
-  param.SetParameter<size_t>(size, "mbr-size", 200);
-  param.SetParameter(scale, "mbr-scale", 1.0f);
-  return true;
-}
+  MBR_Options::
+  MBR_Options() 
+    : enabled(false)
+    , size(200)
+    , scale(1.0f)
+  {}
+
+
+  bool
+  MBR_Options::
+  init(Parameter const& param)
+  {
+    param.SetParameter(enabled, "minimum-bayes-risk", false);
+    param.SetParameter<size_t>(size, "mbr-size", 200);
+    param.SetParameter(scale, "mbr-scale", 1.0f);
+    return true;
+  }
 
 }
diff --git a/moses/parameters/MBR_Options.h b/moses/parameters/MBR_Options.h
index 0462ebc0f..69863f6b5 100644
--- a/moses/parameters/MBR_Options.h
+++ b/moses/parameters/MBR_Options.h
@@ -13,9 +13,9 @@ namespace Moses
     bool enabled;
     size_t size; //! number of translation candidates considered
     float scale; /*! scaling factor for computing marginal probability 
-		  * of candidate translation */
+                  *  of candidate translation */
     bool init(Parameter const& param);
-    MBR_Options() {}
+    MBR_Options();
   };
 
 }
diff --git a/moses/parameters/NBestOptions.cpp b/moses/parameters/NBestOptions.cpp
index c65f9e852..cf5857d00 100644
--- a/moses/parameters/NBestOptions.cpp
+++ b/moses/parameters/NBestOptions.cpp
@@ -5,6 +5,21 @@
 namespace Moses
 {
 
+  NBestOptions::
+  NBestOptions()
+    : nbest_size(0)
+    , factor(20)
+    , enabled(false)
+    , print_trees(false)
+    , only_distinct(false)
+    , include_alignment_info(false)
+    , include_feature_labels(true)
+    , include_segmentation(false)
+    , include_passthrough(false)
+    , include_all_factors(false)
+  {}
+
+
 bool
 NBestOptions::
 init(Parameter const& P)
diff --git a/moses/parameters/NBestOptions.h b/moses/parameters/NBestOptions.h
index 0fe77dc3a..66aea35a9 100644
--- a/moses/parameters/NBestOptions.h
+++ b/moses/parameters/NBestOptions.h
@@ -25,7 +25,8 @@ struct NBestOptions : public OptionsBaseClass
   bool init(Parameter const& param);
 
   bool update(std::map<std::string,xmlrpc_c::value>const& param);
-  
+
+  NBestOptions();
 };
 
 }
diff --git a/moses/parameters/ReorderingOptions.cpp b/moses/parameters/ReorderingOptions.cpp
index 016c4ab0d..2b8cafd6a 100644
--- a/moses/parameters/ReorderingOptions.cpp
+++ b/moses/parameters/ReorderingOptions.cpp
@@ -3,6 +3,14 @@
 
 namespace Moses {
 
+  ReorderingOptions::
+  ReorderingOptions() 
+    : max_distortion(-1)
+    , monotone_at_punct(false)
+    , use_early_distortion_cost(false)
+  {}
+
+
   ReorderingOptions::
   ReorderingOptions(Parameter const& param)
   {
diff --git a/moses/parameters/ReorderingOptions.h b/moses/parameters/ReorderingOptions.h
index f10fc4973..867569f6b 100644
--- a/moses/parameters/ReorderingOptions.h
+++ b/moses/parameters/ReorderingOptions.h
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ namespace Moses
     bool use_early_distortion_cost;
     bool init(Parameter const& param);
     ReorderingOptions(Parameter const& param);
-    ReorderingOptions() {}
+    ReorderingOptions();
   };
 
 }
diff --git a/moses/parameters/ReportingOptions.cpp b/moses/parameters/ReportingOptions.cpp
index 8a049ba36..6d8632ecf 100644
--- a/moses/parameters/ReportingOptions.cpp
+++ b/moses/parameters/ReportingOptions.cpp
@@ -4,6 +4,26 @@
 
 namespace Moses {
   using namespace std;
+
+  ReportingOptions::
+  ReportingOptions()
+    : ReportAllFactors(false)
+    , ReportSegmentation(0)
+    , PrintAlignmentInfo(false)
+    , PrintAllDerivations(false)
+    , PrintTranslationOptions(false)
+    , WA_SortOrder(NoSort)
+    , WordGraph(false)
+    , DontPruneSearchGraph(false)
+    , RecoverPath(false)
+    , ReportHypoScore(false)
+    , PrintID(false)
+    , PrintPassThrough(false)
+    , lattice_sample_size(0)
+  {
+    factor_order.assign(1,0);
+  }
+  
   bool
   ReportingOptions::
   init(Parameter const& param)
@@ -21,16 +41,16 @@ namespace Moses {
     param.SetParameter(WA_SortOrder, "sort-word-alignment", NoSort);
     std::string e; // hack to save us param.SetParameter<string>(...)
     param.SetParameter(AlignmentOutputFile,"alignment-output-file", e);
-
-
+    
+    
     param.SetParameter(PrintAllDerivations, "print-all-derivations", false);
     param.SetParameter(PrintTranslationOptions, "print-translation-option", false);
-
+    
     // output a word graph
     PARAM_VEC const* params;
     params = param.GetParam("output-word-graph");
     WordGraph = (params && params->size() == 2); // what are the two options?
-
+    
     // dump the search graph
     param.SetParameter(SearchGraph, "output-search-graph", e);
     param.SetParameter(SearchGraphExtended, "output-search-graph-extended", e);
@@ -39,7 +59,7 @@ namespace Moses {
 #ifdef HAVE_PROTOBUF
     param.SetParameter(SearchGraphPB, "output-search-graph-pb", e);
 #endif
-
+    
     param.SetParameter(DontPruneSearchGraph, "unpruned-search-graph", false);
     
     
@@ -63,8 +83,6 @@ namespace Moses {
         std::cerr <<"wrong format for switch -lattice-samples file size";
         return false;
       }
-    } else {
-      lattice_sample_size = 0;
     }
 
     params= param.GetParam("output-factors");
@@ -81,7 +99,7 @@ namespace Moses {
     
     return true;
   }
-
+  
 #ifdef HAVE_XMLRPC_C
   bool 
   ReportingOptions::
@@ -121,5 +139,4 @@ namespace Moses {
     return true;
   }
 #endif
-
 }
diff --git a/moses/parameters/ReportingOptions.h b/moses/parameters/ReportingOptions.h
index e330ba3b8..579a4afbd 100644
--- a/moses/parameters/ReportingOptions.h
+++ b/moses/parameters/ReportingOptions.h
@@ -38,9 +38,6 @@ namespace Moses
     bool PrintID;
     bool PrintPassThrough;
 
-    // print ..
-    bool aln_info;    // m_PrintAlignmentInfo;
-
     // transrep = translation reporting
     std::string detailed_transrep_filepath;
     std::string detailed_tree_transrep_filepath;
@@ -59,7 +56,10 @@ namespace Moses
 #ifdef HAVE_XMLRPC_C
     bool update(std::map<std::string, xmlrpc_c::value>const& param);
 #endif
-  };
 
+    
+    ReportingOptions();
+  };
+  
 }
 
diff --git a/moses/parameters/SearchOptions.cpp b/moses/parameters/SearchOptions.cpp
index 6dcad7b9f..a3290b06e 100644
--- a/moses/parameters/SearchOptions.cpp
+++ b/moses/parameters/SearchOptions.cpp
@@ -3,6 +3,23 @@
 
 namespace Moses
 {
+
+  SearchOptions::
+  SearchOptions()
+    : algo(Normal)
+    , stack_size(DEFAULT_MAX_HYPOSTACK_SIZE)
+    , stack_diversity(0)
+    , disable_discarding(false)
+    , max_phrase_length(DEFAULT_MAX_PHRASE_LENGTH)
+    , max_trans_opt_per_cov(DEFAULT_MAX_TRANS_OPT_SIZE)
+    , max_partial_trans_opt(DEFAULT_MAX_PART_TRANS_OPT_SIZE)
+    , beam_width(DEFAULT_BEAM_WIDTH)
+    , timeout(0)
+    , consensus(false)
+    , early_discarding_threshold(DEFAULT_EARLY_DISCARDING_THRESHOLD)
+    , trans_opt_threshold(DEFAULT_TRANSLATION_OPTION_THRESHOLD)
+  { }
+
   SearchOptions::
   SearchOptions(Parameter const& param)
     : stack_diversity(0)
diff --git a/moses/parameters/SearchOptions.h b/moses/parameters/SearchOptions.h
index 56d29a285..1c7fea4ff 100644
--- a/moses/parameters/SearchOptions.h
+++ b/moses/parameters/SearchOptions.h
@@ -37,7 +37,7 @@ namespace Moses
 
     bool init(Parameter const& param);
     SearchOptions(Parameter const& param);
-    SearchOptions() {}
+    SearchOptions();
 
     bool 
     UseEarlyDiscarding() const {
diff --git a/moses/parameters/ServerOptions.cpp b/moses/parameters/ServerOptions.cpp
index 83cddc78c..ab71a26b1 100644
--- a/moses/parameters/ServerOptions.cpp
+++ b/moses/parameters/ServerOptions.cpp
@@ -34,6 +34,20 @@ parse_timespec(std::string const& spec)
   return timeout;
 }
 
+ServerOptions::
+ServerOptions()
+  : is_serial(false)
+  , numThreads(15) // why 15?
+  , sessionTimeout(1800) // = 30 min
+  , sessionCacheSize(25)
+  , port(8080)
+  , maxConn(15)
+  , maxConnBacklog(15)
+  , keepaliveTimeout(15)
+  , keepaliveMaxConn(30)
+  , timeout(15)
+{ }
+
 ServerOptions::
 ServerOptions(Parameter const& P)
 { 
diff --git a/moses/parameters/ServerOptions.h b/moses/parameters/ServerOptions.h
index 7bbef2612..f39a02e6a 100644
--- a/moses/parameters/ServerOptions.h
+++ b/moses/parameters/ServerOptions.h
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@ namespace Moses
     
     bool init(Parameter const& param);
     ServerOptions(Parameter const& param);
+    ServerOptions();
   };
 
 }
diff --git a/moses/parameters/SyntaxOptions.cpp b/moses/parameters/SyntaxOptions.cpp
index f1c8c3f68..23f2acc81 100644
--- a/moses/parameters/SyntaxOptions.cpp
+++ b/moses/parameters/SyntaxOptions.cpp
@@ -9,8 +9,8 @@ namespace Moses {
 
   SyntaxOptions::
   SyntaxOptions()
-  { 
-  }
+    : s2t_parsing_algo(RecursiveCYKPlus)
+  { }
 
   bool
   SyntaxOptions::