Re: c++98/c++03 constructor overloading

From:
Chris Vine <chris@cvine--nospam--.freeserve.co.uk>
Newsgroups:
comp.lang.c++
Date:
Tue, 7 Dec 2010 13:16:49 +0000
Message-ID:
<1no1t7-0u1.ln1@cvinex--nospam--x.freeserve.co.uk>
On Tue, 7 Dec 2010 12:41:15 +0000
Chris Vine <chris@cvine--nospam--.freeserve.co.uk> wrote:
[snip]

Chris Vine wrote:

Hi,

With gcc-4.2 and earlier, and with subsequent versions of gcc when
using the -std=c++98 option, the following code fails to compile:

--------------------------

#include <iostream>
#include <ostream>

enum ByRef {by_ref};

template <class T>
class MyClass {
  T t;
public:
  MyClass(const T& arg): t(arg) { // (1)
    std::cout << "Without ByRef tag" << std::endl;
  }
  MyClass(T arg, ByRef): t(arg) { // (2)
    std::cout << "With ByRef tag" << std::endl;
  }
};

int main() {
  int i = 0;
  MyClass<int&> m2(i, by_ref);
}

--------------------------

gcc ignores the ByRef tag, and picks constructor 1, and then fails
to compile because of the resulting reference to a reference.


[snip]

If I omit constructor (1), the code compiles, as does
sizeof(MyClass<int&>).

However, I think I can now see the problem: the constructor is not
templated (it can't be), so SFINAE does not apply. This means
constructor (1) must be capable of compiling for an instantiation of
MyClass<int&> even if it is never in fact called.

So gcc and comeau must, for the purposes of overload resolution, be
accepting a reference to a reference. I assume then that Comeau in
strict c++03 mode is still accepting some non-c++03 constructs?


If reference to reference template arguments are not acceptable in
c++03, I think I am going to have to resort to partial template
specialisation for my purposes, which appears to behave correctly:

template <class T>
class MyClass {
  T t;
public:
  MyClass(const T& arg): t(arg) {std::cout << "Not ref type" <<
std::endl;} };

template <class T>
class MyClass<T&> {
  T t;
public:
  MyClass(T arg): t(arg) {std::cout << "Ref type" << std::endl;}
};

This is fairly grotesque. Is anyone more knowledgeable than me able to
confirm whether strict c++03 (as well as c++98) does reject template
instantiations giving a reference to a reference, so requiring this
work around? (Sometimes I really detest c++.)

Chris

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