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Jacek Dziedzic wrote:
> fungus wrote:
>> Why can't the compiler write operator==
>> and operator< for me automatically?
>
> // how does the compiler know whether to
> // compare by employee_name or by date_hired?
>

If I want specifics like these then I'll write
appropriate code but I can think of many
situations where all I want is generic compares
and fast lookups (eg. std::map, std::lower_bound).


--
<\___/>
/ O O \
\_____/ FTB. For email, remove my socks.


We’re judging how a candidate will handle a nuclear
crisis by how well his staff creates campaign ads.
It’s a completely nonsensical process.

fungus wrote:
> Rolf Magnus wrote:
>> That should work. Your code is a bit short, so it's
>> hard to tell why it wouldn't.
>
> I'll have another play with it and see what happens...
>

I figured it out - it's all to do with namespaces.

Here's a "broken" piece of code:

#include <iostream>
#include <string>

namespace foo {
class A {
public:
void writeTo(std:stream& os) const {
os << "A";
}
};
void operator<<(std:stream& os, const class B&);
void test();
}

template<typename T, typename S>
S& operator<<(S& d, const T& t)
{
t.writeTo(d);
return d;
}

void foo::test()
{
A a;
std::cout << a << '\n';
}

int main(int argc,char **argv)
{
foo::test();
}


The operator<< in namespace foo is hiding the template
operator<< (which is in the global namespace).


--
<\___/>
/ O O \
\_____/ FTB. For email, remove my socks.


We’re judging how a candidate will handle a nuclear
crisis by how well his staff creates campaign ads.
It’s a completely nonsensical process.