Re: compilation error with overloaded output operator

From:
James Kanze <james.kanze@gmail.com>
Newsgroups:
comp.lang.c++
Date:
Thu, 11 Nov 2010 10:55:33 -0800 (PST)
Message-ID:
<ade21368-74b9-499c-8215-f344366b39ae@j9g2000vbl.googlegroups.com>
On Nov 11, 2:54 pm, "subramanian10...@yahoo.com, India"
<subramanian10...@yahoo.com> wrote:

The following program is ONLY for learning C++.

Consider the program x.cpp:

#include <cstdlib>
#include <iostream>

using namespace std;

template <typename Type>
inline ostream& operator<<(ostream& os, Type obj)
{
        Type temp;
        temp = obj;

        return os;
}

int main()
{
        int x = 100;
        cout << x;
        cout << endl;
        cout << 10;
        cout << endl;
        cout << "Enter some integers: ";
        cout << endl;

        return EXIT_SUCCESS;
}

When I compile this program as
g++ -std=c++98 -pedantic -Wall -Wextra x.cpp

I get compilation error for the line
        cout << "Enter some integers: ";

Here are the actual compilation errors:

x.cpp: In function `int main()':
x.cpp:22: error: ambiguous overload for 'operator<<' in 'std::cout <<
"Enter some integers: "'
/usr/lib/gcc/i386-redhat-linux/3.4.3/../../../../include/c++/3.4.3/
bits/ostream.tcc:98: note: candidates are: std::basic_ostream<_CharT,
_Traits>& std::basic_ostream<_CharT, _Traits>::operator<<(bool) [with
_CharT = char, _Traits = std::char_traits<char>]
/usr/lib/gcc/i386-redhat-linux/3.4.3/../../../../include/c++/3.4.3/
bits/ostream.tcc:284: note: std::basic_ostream<_CharT,
_Traits>& std::basic_ostream<_CharT, _Traits>::operator<<(const void*)
[with _CharT = char, _Traits = std::char_traits<char>]
x.cpp:8: note: std::ostream& operator<<(std::ostream&,
Type) [with Type = const char*]
/usr/lib/gcc/i386-redhat-linux/3.4.3/../../../../include/c++/3.4.3/
bits/ostream.tcc:612: note: std::basic_ostream<char,
_Traits>& std::operator<<(std::basic_ostream<char, _Traits>&, const
char*) [with _Traits = std::char_traits<char>]/usr/lib/gcc/i386-redhat-
linux/3.4.3/../../../../include/c++/3.4.3/bits/ostream.tcc:567:
note: std::basic_ostream<_CharT, _Traits>&
std::operator<<(std::basic_ostream<_CharT, _Traits>&, const char*)
[with _CharT = char, _Traits = std::char_traits<char>]
/usr/lib/gcc/i386-redhat-linux/3.4.3/../../../../include/c++/3.4.3/
bits/ostream.tcc:534: note: std::basic_ostream<_CharT,
_Traits>& std::operator<<(std::basic_ostream<_CharT, _Traits>&, const
_CharT*) [with _CharT = char, _Traits = std::char_traits<char>]

Question:
The ambiguity error is reported by g++ for the line
        cout << "Enter some integers: ";
because this program has the function defined for the overloaded
operator<<() and the standard library also
defines it - multiple functions for operator<<() and hence the error.

But what I do not understand is that why similar ambiguity error is
not reported for the lines
        cout << x;
        cout << endl;
        cout << 10;

Kindly explain.


The short answer: operator<<(int) and operator<<(ios_base&
(*pf)(ios_base&)) are member functions, operator<<(char const*)
is a non-member template function. You're operator<< is
instantiated in all cases, and results in an exact match.
When a template function and a non template function are both
equally good, the non template is chosen, and there is no
ambiguity. In the case of operator<<(char const*), however, the
choice is between the instantiations of two different templates,
so there is no tie-breaker, and the overload is ambiguous.

--
James Kanze

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