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  1. #1
    John E is offline Elite Member Power Poster
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    Apr 2001
    Location
    Manchester, England
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    Using template<> without an argument type

    A program I'm working on seems to have a lot of functions like this in its header files:-

    Code:
    template <>
    inline std::string to_string (bool val)
    {
    	std::string tmp;
    	bool_to_string (val, tmp);
    	return tmp;
    }
    How is that function any different from a regular inline function? i.e. does the empty template<> line add something special?
    "A problem well stated is a problem half solved.” - Charles F. Kettering

  2. #2
    2kaud's Avatar
    2kaud is offline Super Moderator Power Poster
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    Dec 2012
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    England
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    Re: Using template<> without an argument type

    This is a function specialization.

    Somewhere you should have a templated function something like this:

    Code:
    template <typename T>
    inline std::string to_string (T val)
    {
        //....
    }
    When a function specialization is provided, if the signature matches then the specialized function is used. if no match then the general template function is used.
    All advice is offered in good faith only. All my code is tested (unless stated explicitly otherwise) with the latest version of Microsoft Visual Studio (using the supported features of the latest standard) and is offered as examples only - not as production quality. I cannot offer advice regarding any other c/c++ compiler/IDE or incompatibilities with VS. You are ultimately responsible for the effects of your programs and the integrity of the machines they run on. Anything I post, code snippets, advice, etc is licensed as Public Domain https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/ and can be used without reference or acknowledgement. Also note that I only provide advice and guidance via the forums - and not via private messages!

    C++23 Compiler: Microsoft VS2022 (17.6.5)

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