Elimanating Compile Errors Resulting from Overloading Methods Taking Forwarding References

Article References

Problem 1: Overloading a Template Function That Takes Forwarding Reference(s).

We first start with the example of an overloaded method addtolog where the expected behavior, the promotion of short to int, occurs.

vector<string> log;

unordered_map<int, string> umap = { {1, "one"}, {2, "two"}, {3, "three"}, {4, "four"} };

const string& look_up_string(int i)
{
    return umap[i];
}

void add2log(int i)
{
    cout << "void add2log( int i) called" << endl;
    log.emplace_back(look_up_string(i));
}

void add2log(string& str)
{
    cout << "void add2log(string& str) called" << endl;
    log.emplace_back(str);
}

add2log(1);

short sint = 1;

add2log(sint);

string str{"abc"};

add2log(str);

Ouput:

void add2log( int i) called
void add2log( int i) called
void add2log(string &) called

add2log(sint); results in the expected promotion of short to int in the call to void add2log(int); however, when there is a template version of addd2log that takes a forwarding reference, this expected behavior does not occur. Instead a compiler error occurs:

vector<string> log;

unordered_map<int, string> umap = { {1, "one"}, {2, "two"}, {3, "three"}, {4, "four"} };

const string& look_up_string(int i)
{
    return umap[i];
}

template<class T>
void add2log(T&& value)
{
    cout << "template<class T> void add2log(T&&) called" << endl;
    log.emplace_back(std::forward<T>(value));
}

void add2log(int i)
{
    cout << "void add2log( int i) called" << endl;
    log.emplace_back(look_up_string(i));
}

add2log(1);

short sint = 1;

add2log(sint); // <--- Compiler errors. Why?

string str{"abc"};

add2log(str);

This code does not compile. The expected promotion of sint to an int no longer occurs because the short sint is an exact match for template<class T> void add2log(T&& value), and the compiler therefore instantiates void add2log(short& value), and log.emplace_back(std::forward<T>(t)) will then attempt to invoke the non-extant constructor string::string(short).

So how can we achieve the overloaded behavior in the first example if template methods with forwarding references can’t be overloaded without producing compile errors like the example above?

Solution: tag dispatch

Edaqa Mortoray’s article Overloading the broken universal reference ‘T&&’ explains: “there is no way to avoid redefinition errors with just one parameter, thus we need at least one extra parameter to overload. It would of course be very inconvenient if the caller had to know anything about this…The solution involves introducing a tag parameter.”

First, no overloads of the template function taking the forwarding reference parameter are allowed. Instead various implementations corresponding to each overload are employed. These implementation methods also take the same, identical forwarding reference parameter, but they also have an extra parameter that serves as a tag. The type of this secondary tag parameter is determined at run-time. Therefore this second parameter must be a template. std::decay<class T>, from header <type_traits>, can be used to achieve this.

This example is from Overloading the broken universal reference ‘T&&’

#include <iostream>
#include <string>
#include <vector>
#include <unordered_map>
#include <type_traits>

using namespace std;

template<typename T>
struct class_tag {}; // Type used to help choose the specific apply_impl method.

template<typename T>
void apply(T&& t)
{
   // Get the unqualified type, using std::decay<T>, for the purpose of creating a type "tag".
   class_tag<typename std::decay<T>::type> tag;

   apply_impl( std::forward<T>(t), tag );
}

template<typename T, typename Tag>
void apply_impl(T&& t, Tag )
{
   std::cout << t << std::endl;
}

struct match_a { };

template<typename T>
void apply_impl(T&& t, class_tag<match_a>)
{
   std::cout << "match_a" << std::endl;
}

struct match_b { };

template<typename T>
void apply_impl(T&& t, class_tag<match_b>)
{
    std::cout << "match_b" << std::endl;
}

template<typename T>
void apply_impl(T&& t, class_tag<int*>)
{
   std::cout << "int*" << std::endl;
}

template<typename T>
void apply_impl(T&& t, class_tag<int>)
{
   std::cout << "int" << std::endl;
}

int main()
{
   apply( 12 );
   apply( "hello" );
   apply( match_a() );
   apply( match_b() );

   match_a a;

   apply(a);

   apply( static_cast<const match_a&>(a) ); // T&& will be 'const match_a'.

   apply( static_cast<const match_a>(a) );

   int b[5];

   apply(b);

   apply(static_cast<int*>(b));

   apply(9);

   return 0;
}

Ouput:

int
hello
match_a
match_b
match_a
match_a
match_a
int*
int*
int

We see that the basic underlying type, stripped of any modifiers like const, is used to select the correct overload—while the forwarding reference parameter still fully matches the type of the parameter that was passed, like const match_a in the commented line above.

However, the class_tag and std::decay technique does note provide enough flexibility to solve our beginning add2log example. For this case, we can instead use template< class T > std::struct is_integral. First, we change template<class T> void add2log(T&& value) to an inline function that simply invokes template<class T, class Tag>  add2log_impl(T&& t, Tag). is_integral is ….

Todo

Finish comments above, introduce and explain the code below, and double check that it is correct.

#include <string>
#include <vector>
#include <unordered_map>
#include <type_traits>
using namespace std;

vector<string> log;

unordered_map<int, string> umap = { {1, "one"}, {2, "two"}, {3, "three"}, {4, "four"} };

const string& look_up_string(int i)
{
    return umap[i];
}

template<class T>
void add2log(T&& value)
{
    add2log_impl( std::forward<T>(f), std::is_integral<T>);
}

template<class T>
void add2log_impl(T&& value, std::is_true)
{
    cout << "template<class T> void add2log_impl(T&&, std::is_true) called" << endl;
    add2log(look_up_string(i));
}

template<class T>
void add2log_impl(T&& value, std::is_false)
{
    cout << "template<class T> void add2log_impl(T&&, std::is_false) called" << endl;
    log.emplace_back(std::forward<T>(value));
}

Todo

Reference to Scott Meyers book and Item #?.

Problem 2: Overloading a Constructor That Takes Forwarding Reference(s).

Solution: enable_if<T>

See article Notes on C++ SFINAE byBartłomiej Filipek.

Best Solution: Concepts