operator== does not compile if I include <iostream> - c++

Question

The following code compiles perfectly if:
I don't include <iostream> or
I name operator== as alp::operator==.
I suppose there is a problem with <iostream> and operator==, but I don't know what.
I compile the code with gcc 7.3.0, clang++-6.0 and goldbolt. Always the same error.
The problem is that the compiler is trying to cast the parameters of operator== to const_iterator, but why? (I suppose the compiler doesn't see my version of operator==, and looks for other versions).
#include <vector>
#include <iostream> // comment and compile
namespace alp{
template <typename It_base>
struct Iterator {
using const_iterator = Iterator<typename It_base::const_iterator>;
operator const_iterator() { return const_iterator{}; }
};
template <typename It_base>
bool operator==(const Iterator<It_base>& x, const Iterator<It_base>& y)
{ return true;}
}// namespace
struct Func{
int& operator()(int& p) const {return p;}
};
template <typename It, typename View>
struct View_iterator_base{
using return_type = decltype(View{}(*It{}));
using const_iterator =
View_iterator_base<std::vector<int>::const_iterator, Func>;
};
using view_it =
alp::Iterator<View_iterator_base<std::vector<int>::iterator, Func>>;
int main()
{
view_it p{};
view_it z{};
bool x = operator==(z, p); // only compiles if you remove <iostream>
bool y = alp::operator==(z,p); // always compile
}
Error message:
yy.cpp: In instantiation of ‘struct View_iterator_base<__gnu_cxx::__normal_iterator<const int*, std::vector<int> >, Func>’:
yy.cpp:9:73: required from ‘struct alp::Iterator<View_iterator_base<__gnu_cxx::__normal_iterator<const int*, std::vector<int> >, Func> >’
yy.cpp:44:29: required from here
yy.cpp:28:42: error: no match for call to ‘(Func) (const int&)’
using return_type = decltype(View{}(*It{}));
~~~~~~^~~~~~~
yy.cpp:22:10: note: candidate: int& Func::operator()(int&) const <near match>
int& operator()(int& p) const {return p;}
^~~~~~~~
yy.cpp:22:10: note: conversion of argument 1 would be ill-formed:
yy.cpp:28:42: error: binding reference of type ‘int&’ to ‘const int’ discards qualifiers
using return_type = decltype(View{}(*It{}));
~~~~~~^~~~~~~

Answer 1

I've made a more minimal test case here: https://godbolt.org/z/QQonMG .
The relevant details are:
A using type alias does not instantiate a template. So for example:
template<bool b>
struct fail_if_true {
static_assert(!b, "template parameter must be false");
};
using fail_if_used = fail_if_true<true>;
will not cause a compile time error (if fail_if_used isn't used)
ADL also inspects template parameter classes. In this case, std::vector<int>::iterator is __gnu_cxx::__normal_iterator<const int*, std::vector<int> >, Func>, which has a std::vector<int> in it's template. So, operator== will check in the global namespace (always), alp (As alp::Iterator is in alp), __gnu_cxx and std.
Your View_iterator_base::const_iterator is invalid. View_iterator_base::const_interator::result_type is defined as decltype(Func{}(*std::vector<int>::const_iterator{})). std::vector<int>::const_iterator{} will be a vectors const iterator, so *std::vector<int>::const_iterator{} is a const int&. Func::operator() takes an int&, so this means that the expression is invalid. But it won't cause a compile time error if not used, for the reasons stated above. This means that your conversion operator is to an invalid type.
Since you don't define it as explicit, the conversion operator (To an invalid type) will be used to try and match it to the function parameters if they don't already match. Obviously this will finally instantiate the invalid type, so it will throw a compile time error.
My guess is that iostream includes string, which defines std::operator== for strings.
Here's an example without the std namespace: https://godbolt.org/z/-wlAmv
// Avoid including headers for testing without std::
template<class T> struct is_const { static constexpr const bool value = false; } template<class T> struct is_const<const T> { static constexpr const bool value = true; }
namespace with_another_equals {
struct T {};
bool operator==(const T&, const T&) {
return true;
}
}
namespace ns {
template<class T>
struct wrapper {
using invalid_wrapper = wrapper<typename T::invalid>;
operator invalid_wrapper() {}
};
template<class T>
bool operator==(const wrapper<T>&, const wrapper<T>&) {
return true;
}
}
template<class T>
struct with_invalid {
static_assert(!is_const<T>::value, "Invalid if const");
using invalid = with_invalid<const T>;
};
template<class T>
void test() {
using wrapped = ns::wrapper<with_invalid<T>>;
wrapped a;
wrapped b;
bool x = operator==(a, b);
bool y = ns::operator==(a, b);
}
template void test<int*>();
// Will compile if this line is commented out
template void test<with_another_equals::T>();
Note that just declaring operator const_iterator() should instantiate the type. But it doesn't because it is within templates. My guess is that it is optimised out (where it does compile because it's unused) before it can be checked to show that it can't compile (It doesn't even warn with -Wall -pedantic that it doesn't have a return statement in my example).