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Warning: Newbie clueless question.

I ran into something at work today that I solved by random hackery
without really understanding it. Can someone explain to me why the
template keyword is required at the callsite of this static template
function?

class foo
{
public:
template<typename T>
static void dosomethingtoT(T& value)
{
value = 44;
}
};

int main()
{
long l;
foo::template dosomethingtoT(l); // why the template keyword??
return 0;
}

* Dilip:
> Warning: Newbie clueless question.
>
> I ran into something at work today that I solved by random hackery
> without really understanding it. Can someone explain to me why the
> template keyword is required at the callsite of this static template
> function?
>
> class foo
> {
> public:
> template<typename T>
> static void dosomethingtoT(T& value)
> {
> value = 44;
> }
> };
>
> int main()
> {
> long l;
> foo::template dosomethingtoT(l); // why the template keyword??
> return 0;
> }

This is due to using a very old compiler, alternatively perhaps AIX
compiler.

The above compiles fine sans 'template' keyword with MSVC 7.1, g++ 3.4.4
and Comeau Online 4.3.3.

--
A: Because it messes up the order in which people normally read text.
Q: Why is it such a bad thing?
A: Top-posting.
Q: What is the most annoying thing on usenet and in e-mail?

Dilip posted:

> Can someone explain to me why the
> template keyword is required at the callsite of this static template
> function?


The following compiles without error or warning for me with g++:

struct Arb {

template<class T>
void static Func(T &value)
{
value = 44;
}

};

int main()
{
int i;

Arb::Func(i);
}




--

Frederick Gotham

Alf P. Steinbach wrote:
> * Dilip:
> > Warning: Newbie clueless question.
> >
> > I ran into something at work today that I solved by random hackery
> > without really understanding it. Can someone explain to me why the
> > template keyword is required at the callsite of this static template
> > function?
> >
> > class foo
> > {
> > public:
> > template<typename T>
> > static void dosomethingtoT(T& value)
> > {
> > value = 44;
> > }
> > };
> >
> > int main()
> > {
> > long l;
> > foo::template dosomethingtoT(l); // why the template keyword??
> > return 0;
> > }
>
> This is due to using a very old compiler, alternatively perhaps AIX
> compiler.

Strange.. I could've sworn I ran into linker errors before putting the
template keyword in front of the call. Now I removed it and everything
compiles and links fine. sigh...
FWIW I was using VC++ 8.0