diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 5f5de3e..ea47eb3 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -1 +1,14 @@
-tests/unittest-cpp
\ No newline at end of file
+tests/unittest-cpp
+CMakeFiles
+tests/CMakeFiles
+tests/Debug
+*.opensdf
+*.sdf
+tests/*tests.dir
+*.vcxproj
+*.vcxproj.filters
+*.sln
+*.tlog
+Testing/Temporary/*.*
+CMakeCache.txt
+*.suo
diff --git a/include/array_view.h b/include/array_view.h
index 6d4fde2..efbaa92 100644
--- a/include/array_view.h
+++ b/include/array_view.h
@@ -508,7 +508,7 @@ namespace details
 	template <size_t Rank, bool Enabled = (Rank > 1), typename Ret = std::enable_if_t<Enabled, index<Rank - 1>>>
 	constexpr Ret shift_left(const index<Rank>& other) noexcept
 	{
-		Ret ret;
+		Ret ret{};
 		for (size_t i = 0; i < Rank - 1; ++i)
 		{
 			ret[i] = other[i + 1];
@@ -865,7 +865,7 @@ public:
 	constexpr bounds_iterator& operator+=(difference_type n) noexcept
 	{
 		auto linear_idx = linearize(curr) + n;
-		std::remove_const_t<value_type> stride;
+		std::remove_const_t<value_type> stride = 0;
 		stride[rank - 1] = 1;
 		for (size_t i = rank - 1; i-- > 0;)
 		{
diff --git a/include/string_view.h b/include/string_view.h
index 04909f8..b7a1e8a 100644
--- a/include/string_view.h
+++ b/include/string_view.h
@@ -82,9 +82,9 @@ template<class T, class SizeType, const T Sentinel>
 array_view<T, dynamic_range> ensure_sentinel(const T* seq, SizeType max = std::numeric_limits<SizeType>::max())
 {
     auto cur = seq;
-    while ((cur - seq) < max && *cur != Sentinel) ++cur;
+    while (SizeType(cur - seq) < max && *cur != Sentinel) ++cur;
     fail_fast_assert(*cur == Sentinel);
-    return{ seq, cur - seq };
+    return{ seq, SizeType(cur - seq) };
 }
 
 
@@ -96,7 +96,7 @@ array_view<T, dynamic_range> ensure_sentinel(const T* seq, SizeType max = std::n
 template<class T>
 inline basic_string_view<T, dynamic_range> ensure_z(T* const & sz, std::ptrdiff_t max = PTRDIFF_MAX)
 {
-    return ensure_sentinel<0>(sz, max);
+    return ensure_sentinel<T, size_t, 0>(sz, max);
 }
 
 // TODO (neilmac) there is probably a better template-magic way to get the const and non-const overloads to share an implementation
diff --git a/tests/string_view_tests.cpp b/tests/string_view_tests.cpp
index fb57845..e553ccd 100644
--- a/tests/string_view_tests.cpp
+++ b/tests/string_view_tests.cpp
@@ -79,6 +79,14 @@ SUITE(string_view_tests)
         }
 	}
 
+    TEST(TestConstructFromConstCharPointer)
+    {
+        const char* s = "Hello";
+        cstring_view<> v = ensure_z(s);
+        CHECK(v.length() == 5);
+        CHECK(v.used_length() == v.length());
+    }
+
     TEST(TestConversionToConst)
     {
         char stack_string[] = "Hello";