Re: Is const char* an exception in a template specification?

From:
SG <s.gesemann@gmail.com>
Newsgroups:
comp.lang.c++.moderated
Date:
Mon, 18 May 2009 14:38:25 CST
Message-ID:
<a14f7204-d680-4c79-abdc-8ba0140ce3df@e20g2000vbc.googlegroups.com>
On 18 Mai, 03:12, DeMarcus <use_my_alias_h...@hotmail.com> wrote:

Hi!

I would like to do the following similar to the second half of 35.9 in
the FAQ http://www.parashift.com/c++-faq-lite/templates.html

template<class T>
class A {


[snip]

template<>
class A<const char*> {


[snip]

template<class T>
void foo( const T& t )
{
    A<T> bar(t);
}

main()
{
    foo( "Hello" );
}

But the code does not use my specialized const char* template.


This is because of the type deduction rules, you taking 't' by
reference, and the literal "Hello" being an lvalue of type "const char
[6]". If you let the compiler deduce the type T and take 't' by
reference it'll use T = const char[6] instead of T = const char*.
However, if you take 't' by value T is going to be a pointer to const
char.

To solve this problem you can either be explicit w.r.t. to T:

  int main() // <-- Note that main returns an int
  {
    foo<const char*>("Hello"); // <-- specify T
  }

of apply a bit of meta-programming inside foo ? la

  // type transforming compile-time function "ptr_decay"
  template<typename T> struct ptr_decay { typedef T type; };
  template<typename T> struct ptr_decay<T[]> { typedef T* type; };
  template<typename T, std::size_t N>
    struct ptr_decay<T[N]> { typedef T* type; };

  template<class T>
  void foo( const T& t )
  {
     typedef typename ptr_decay<T>::type T2;
     // T2 will be a pointer if T is an array
     A<T2> bar(t);
     // If t is a reference to an array and
     // A<T2> takes a pointer as constructor
     // argument, t will decay to a pointer.
  }

  int main() // <-- Note that main returns an int
  {
    foo("Hello");
  }

which should use your specialization of A for pointers to const char.

Am I forced to write also the following function?
void foo( const char* t )


No.

Or can I solve it in some other manner?


Yes. See above.

Cheers!
SG

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