Re: Calling base members of template class

From:
"=?iso-8859-1?q?Daniel_Kr=FCgler?=" <daniel.kruegler@googlemail.com>
Newsgroups:
comp.lang.c++.moderated
Date:
Mon, 16 Apr 2007 20:15:27 CST
Message-ID:
<1176759352.497805.243800@q75g2000hsh.googlegroups.com>
Al schrieb:

template <typename T>
struct Base { virtual void Foo() {} };

struct Derived : public Base<int> {
     virtual void Foo() { Base::Foo(); } // version1
     virtual void Foo() { Base<int>::Foo(); } // version2
};

It seems my compiler (VC++8) lets me omit the template suffix when
calling a method in the Base class from Derived (version1). My questions
are:

a) Are both versions legal C++?


Yes, they are. But "template suffix" is no standard nomenclature,
officially this is called "used with a template-argument-list".

b) Are both versions identical (in /this/ case)?


Yes, they are.

c) Is omitting the suffix always identical to including it?


No, it is not. But if you omit the template-argument-list within the
scope of a specialization, it is equivalent to the injected class-
name
followed by the template-arguments of that specialization, see
14.6.1/2.

14.6.1/2a describes essentially your use-case:

"The injected-class-name of a class template or class template
specialization can be used either with or without a template-argument-
list
wherever it is in scope.[..]"

Differences occur e.g. in multiple inheritance situations (v.i.).

The reason I ask is because in a project that I am working on (which
uses virtual and multiple inheritance), the first version consistently
causes runtime reading violations while the second one magically works.
Could it be a compiler bug?


Most probably.

Also, it seems like when doing something like this:

struct Derived : public Base<int>, public Base<float> {};

Omitting the suffix /still/ compiles, and causes the Base<int> version
to be called. Is that well-defined behavior?


Nope, if this compiles, it's a compiler bug, because in this
example the injected class-name causes an ambiguity. This
is precisely described by 14.6.1/2b:

"A lookup that finds an injected-class-name (10.2) can result in
an ambiguity in certain cases (for example, if it is found in more
than one base class). If all of the injected-class-names that are
found refer to specializations of the same class template, and if
the name is followed by a template-argument-list, the reference
refers to the class template itself and not a specialization thereof,
and is not ambiguous."

Thus in this case you must use the full template-argument-list
to resolve the ambiguity inside Derived.

Greetings from Bremen,

Daniel Kr|gler

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