Template Parameter Pack Fails on Clang but not VS 2015 - c++

I'm working on a function which invokes a supplied function with a variable number of arguments. It compiles and works correctly on Visual Studio 2015, but fails to compile on Clang . I've prepared a demonstration which shows what I'm trying to do. The error I get in Clang is:
prog.cpp: In function 'int main()': prog.cpp:31:2: error: no matching
function for call to 'run(std::vector&, void ()(int&, const
int&), const int&)' ); ^ prog.cpp:7:6: note: candidate:
template void
run(std::vector&, const std::function&,
mutrArgs ...) void run(
^ prog.cpp:7:6: note: template argument deduction/substitution failed: prog.cpp:31:2: note: mismatched types 'const
std::function' and 'void ()(int&, const
int&)' );
#include <functional>
#include <iostream>
#include <vector>
using namespace std;
template<int RepeatTimes, class ... mutrArgs>
void run(
vector<int>& vec,
const function<void(int&, mutrArgs ...)>& mutr,
mutrArgs ... args
)
{
for (int times{0} ; times < RepeatTimes ; ++times)
for (auto& item : vec)
mutr(item, args...);
}
void adder(int& i, const int& val)
{
i += val;
}
int main()
{
vector<int> v{0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9};
const int addValue{4};
run<2, const int&>(
v,
&adder,
addValue
);
for (auto i : v)
cout << i << " ";
cout << endl;
return 0;
}

run<2, const int&> just state the first argument, but doesn't deactivate deduction.
run<2, const int&>(v, &adder, addValue);
has 2 places to deduce mutrArgs:
addValue -> mutrArgs = { const int& }
&adder which is not a std::function and so fail.
Taking address of function fix that problem
auto call_run = &run<2, const int&>;
call_run(v, &adder, addValue);
Strangely, clang doesn't support the inlined usage contrary to gcc :/
(&run<2, const int&>)(v, &adder, addValue);
If you want to disable deduction, you may make your template arg non deducible:
template <typename T> struct identity { using type = T; };
template <typename T> using non_deducible_t = typename identity<T>::type;
And then
template<int RepeatTimes, class ... mutrArgs>
void run(
std::vector<int>& vec,
const std::function<void(int&, non_deducible_t<mutrArgs> ...)>& mutr,
non_deducible_t<mutrArgs> ... args
)
Demo
Even if in your case a simple typename F as suggested by Joachim Pileborg seems better.

If you look at all standard library algorithm function, at least the ones taking a "predicate" (a callable object) they take that argument as a templated type.
If you do the same it will build:
template<int RepeatTimes, typename F, class ... mutrArgs>
void run(
vector<int>& vec,
F mutr,
mutrArgs ... args
)
{
...
}
See here for an example of you code. Note that you don't need to provide all template arguments, the compiler is able to deduce them.

Related

what is the way to remove the first element from a std::span<T>?

when reading the document of std::span, I see there is no method to remove the first element from the std::span<T>.
Can you suggest a way to solve my issue?
The large picture of my problem(I asked in another question: How to instantiatiate a std::basic_string_view with custom class T, I got is_trivial_v<_CharT> assert error) is that I would like to have a std::basic_string_view<Token>, while the Token is not a trivial class, so I can't use std::basic_string_view, and someone suggested me to use std::span<Token> instead.
Since the basic_string_view has a method named remove_prefix which remove the first element, while I also need such kinds of function because I would like to use std::span<Token> as a parser input, so the Tokens will be matched, and consumed one by one.
Thanks.
EDIT 2023-02-04
I try to derive a class named Span from std::span, and add the remove_prefix member function, but it looks like I still have build issues:
#include <string_view>
#include <vector>
#include <span>
// derived class, add remove_prefix function to std::span
template<typename T>
class Span : public std::span<T>
{
public:
// Inheriting constructors
using std::span<T>::span;
// add a public function which is similar to std::string_view::remove_prefix
constexpr void remove_prefix(std::size_t n) {
*this = subspan(n);
}
};
struct Token
{
Token(){};
Token(const Token& other)
{
lexeme = other.lexeme;
type = other.type;
}
std::string_view lexeme;
int type;
// equal operator
bool operator==(const Token& other)const {
return (this->lexeme == other.lexeme) ;
}
};
template <typename T>
struct Viewer;
template <>
struct Viewer<Token>
{
using type = Span<Token>; // std::span or derived class
};
template <>
struct Viewer<char>
{
using type = std::string_view;
};
template <typename T> using ViewerT = typename Viewer<T>::type;
template <typename T>
class Parser
{
using v = ViewerT<T>;
};
// a simple parser demo
template <typename Base, typename T>
struct parser_base {
using v = ViewerT<T>;
constexpr auto operator[](v& output) const noexcept;
};
template<typename T>
struct char_ final : public parser_base<char_<T>, T> {
using v = ViewerT<T>;
constexpr explicit char_(const T ch) noexcept
: ch(ch)
{}
constexpr inline bool visit(v& sv) const& noexcept {
if (!sv.empty() && sv.front() == ch) {
sv.remove_prefix(1);
return true;
}
return false;
}
private:
T ch;
};
template <typename Parser, typename T>
constexpr bool parse(Span<T> &input, Parser const& parser) noexcept {
return parser.visit(input);
}
int main()
{
Token kw_class;
kw_class.lexeme = "a";
std::vector<Token> token_stream;
token_stream.push_back(kw_class);
token_stream.push_back(kw_class);
token_stream.push_back(kw_class);
Span<Token> token_stream_view{&token_stream[0], 3};
auto p = char_(kw_class);
parse(token_stream_view, p);
return 0;
}
The build error looks like below:
[ 50.0%] g++.exe -Wall -std=c++20 -fexceptions -g -c F:\code\test_crtp_twoargs\main.cpp -o obj\Debug\main.o
F:\code\test_crtp_twoargs\main.cpp: In member function 'constexpr void Span<T>::remove_prefix(std::size_t)':
F:\code\test_crtp_twoargs\main.cpp:52:17: error: there are no arguments to 'subspan' that depend on a template parameter, so a declaration of 'subspan' must be available [-fpermissive]
52 | *this = subspan(n);
| ^~~~~~~
F:\code\test_crtp_twoargs\main.cpp:52:17: note: (if you use '-fpermissive', G++ will accept your code, but allowing the use of an undeclared name is deprecated)
F:\code\test_crtp_twoargs\main.cpp: In instantiation of 'constexpr void Span<T>::remove_prefix(std::size_t) [with T = Token; std::size_t = long long unsigned int]':
F:\code\test_crtp_twoargs\main.cpp:113:29: required from 'constexpr bool char_<T>::visit(v&) const & [with T = Token; v = Span<Token>]'
F:\code\test_crtp_twoargs\main.cpp:125:24: required from 'constexpr bool parse(Span<T>&, const Parser&) [with Parser = char_<Token>; T = Token]'
F:\code\test_crtp_twoargs\main.cpp:141:10: required from here
F:\code\test_crtp_twoargs\main.cpp:52:24: error: 'subspan' was not declared in this scope, and no declarations were found by argument-dependent lookup at the point of instantiation [-fpermissive]
52 | *this = subspan(n);
| ~~~~~~~^~~
F:\code\test_crtp_twoargs\main.cpp:52:24: note: declarations in dependent base 'std::span<Token, 18446744073709551615>' are not found by unqualified lookup
F:\code\test_crtp_twoargs\main.cpp:52:24: note: use 'this->subspan' instead
F:\code\test_crtp_twoargs\main.cpp:52:15: error: no match for 'operator=' (operand types are 'Span<Token>' and 'std::span<Token, 18446744073709551615>')
52 | *this = subspan(n);
| ~~~~~~^~~~~~~~~~~~
F:\code\test_crtp_twoargs\main.cpp:44:7: note: candidate: 'constexpr Span<Token>& Span<Token>::operator=(const Span<Token>&)'
44 | class Span : public std::span<T>
| ^~~~
F:\code\test_crtp_twoargs\main.cpp:44:7: note: no known conversion for argument 1 from 'std::span<Token, 18446744073709551615>' to 'const Span<Token>&'
F:\code\test_crtp_twoargs\main.cpp:44:7: note: candidate: 'constexpr Span<Token>& Span<Token>::operator=(Span<Token>&&)'
F:\code\test_crtp_twoargs\main.cpp:44:7: note: no known conversion for argument 1 from 'std::span<Token, 18446744073709551615>' to 'Span<Token>&&'
Any idea on how to fix this issue?
Also, I don't know how to make a general parse function:
template <typename Parser, typename T>
constexpr bool parse(Span<T> &input, Parser const& parser) noexcept {
return parser.visit(input);
}
Currently, the first argument of the parse should be a Viewer like type?
EDIT2023-02-05
Change the function as below, the above code can build correctly. This is from Benjamin Buch's answer.
constexpr void remove_prefix(std::size_t n) {
auto& self = static_cast<std::span<T>&>(*this);
self = self.subspan(n);
}
There is still one thing remains: How to generalize the parse function to accept both input types of std::string_view and Span<Token>?
If I change the parse function to this:
template <typename Parser, typename T>
constexpr bool parse(ViewerT<T> &input, Parser const& parser) noexcept {
return parser.visit(input);
}
I got such compile error:
[ 50.0%] g++.exe -Wall -std=c++20 -fexceptions -g -c F:\code\test_crtp_twoargs\main.cpp -o obj\Debug\main.o
F:\code\test_crtp_twoargs\main.cpp: In function 'int main()':
F:\code\test_crtp_twoargs\main.cpp:143:24: error: no matching function for call to 'parse(Span<Token>&, char_<Token>&)'
143 | bool result = parse(token_stream_view, p);
| ~~~~~^~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
F:\code\test_crtp_twoargs\main.cpp:125:16: note: candidate: 'template<class Parser, class T> constexpr bool parse(ViewerT<T>&, const Parser&)'
125 | constexpr bool parse(ViewerT<T> &input, Parser const& parser) noexcept {
| ^~~~~
F:\code\test_crtp_twoargs\main.cpp:125:16: note: template argument deduction/substitution failed:
F:\code\test_crtp_twoargs\main.cpp:143:24: note: couldn't deduce template parameter 'T'
143 | bool result = parse(token_stream_view, p);
| ~~~~~^~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Any ideas?
Thanks.
BTW: I have to explicitly instantiation of the parse function call like:
bool result = parse<decltype(p), Token>(token_stream_view, p);
to workaround this issue.
Call subspan with 1 as only (template) argument to get a new span, which doesn't contain the first element.
If you use a span with a static extend, you need a new variable because the data type changes by subspan.
#include <string_view>
#include <iostream>
#include <span>
int main() {
std::span<char const, 12> text_a("a test-span");
std::cout << std::string_view(text_a) << '\n';
std::span<char const, 10> text_b = text_a.subspan<2>();
std::cout << std::string_view(text_b) << '\n';
}
If you have a dynamic extend, you can assign the result to the original variable.
#include <string_view>
#include <iostream>
#include <span>
int main() {
std::span<char const> text("a test-span");
std::cout << std::string_view(text) << '\n';
text = text.subspan(2);
std::cout << std::string_view(text) << '\n';
}
The implementation of a modifying inplace subspan version is only possible for spans with a dynamic extend. It can be implemented as a free function.
#include <string_view>
#include <iostream>
#include <span>
template <typename T>
constexpr void remove_front(std::span<T>& self, std::size_t const n) noexcept {
self = self.subspan(n);
}
int main() {
std::span<char const> text("a test-span");
std::cout << std::string_view(text) << '\n';
remove_front(text, 2);
std::cout << std::string_view(text) << '\n';
}
You can use your own spans derived from std::span if you prefer the dot-call.
#include <string_view>
#include <iostream>
#include <span>
template <typename T>
struct my_span: std::span<T> {
using std::span<T>::span;
constexpr void remove_front(std::size_t const n) noexcept {
auto& self = static_cast<std::span<T>&>(*this);
self = self.subspan(n);
}
};
int main() {
my_span<char const> my_text("a test-span");
std::cout << std::string_view(my_text) << '\n';
my_text.remove_front(2);
std::cout << std::string_view(my_text) << '\n';
}
You can also write a wrapper class to call via dot syntax. This way you can additionally implement cascadable modification calls by always returning the a reference modifier class.
#include <string_view>
#include <iostream>
#include <span>
template <typename T>
class span_modifier {
public:
constexpr span_modifier(std::span<T>& span) noexcept: span_(span) {}
constexpr span_modifier& remove_front(std::size_t const n) noexcept {
span_ = span_.subspan(n);
return *this;
}
private:
std::span<T>& span_;
};
template <typename T>
constexpr span_modifier<T> modify(std::span<T>& span) noexcept {
return span;
}
int main() {
std::span<char const> text("a test-span");
std::cout << std::string_view(text) << '\n';
modify(text).remove_front(2).remove_front(5);
std::cout << std::string_view(text) << '\n';
}
Note I use the template function modify to create an object of the wrapper class, because the names of classes cannot be overloaded. Therefore class names should always be a bit more specific. The function modify can also be overloaded for other data types, which then return a different wrapper class. This results in a simple intuitive and consistent interface for modification wrappers.
You can write remove_prefix of your version,
template <typename T>
constexpr void remove_prefix(std::span<T>& sp, std::size_t n) {
sp = sp.subspan(n);
}
Demo

Why does my variadic template instantiation not work?

I am revisiting C++ after a long hiatus, and I would like to use templates to design the known "map" function -- the one which applies a function to every element of a collection.
Disregarding the fact my map doesn't return anything (a non-factor here), I have managed to implement what I wanted if the function passed to "map" does not need to accept additional arguments:
#include <iostream>
template <typename C, void fn(const typename C::value_type &)> void map(const C & c) {
for(auto i : c) {
fn(i);
}
}
struct some_container_type { /// Just some hastily put together iterable structure type
typedef int value_type;
value_type * a;
int n;
some_container_type(value_type * a, int n): a(a), n(n) { }
value_type * begin() const {
return a;
}
value_type * end() const {
return a + n;
}
};
void some_fn(const int & e) { /// A function used for testing the "map" function
std::cout << "`fn` called for " << e << std::endl;
}
int main() {
int a[] = { 5, 7, 12 };
const some_container_type sc(a, std::size(a));
map<some_container_type, some_fn>(sc);
}
However, I would like map to accept additional arguments to call fn with. I've tried to compile the modified variant of the program (container type definition was unchanged):
template <typename C, typename ... T, void fn(const typename C::value_type &, T ...)> void map(const C & c, T ... args) {
for(auto i : c) {
fn(i, args...);
}
}
void some_fn(const int & e, int a, float b, char c) {
std::cout << "`fn` called for " << e << std::endl;
}
int main() {
int a[] = { 5, 7, 12 };
const some_container_type sc(a, std::size(a));
map<some_container_type, int, float, char, some_fn>(sc, 1, 2.0f, '3');
}
But gcc -std=c++20 refuses to compile the modified program containing the above variant, aborting with:
<source>: In function 'int main()':
<source>:29:56: error: no matching function for call to 'map<some_container_type, int, float, char, some_fn>(const some_container_type&, int, int, int)'
29 | map<some_container_type, int, float, char, some_fn>(sc, 1, 2, 3);
| ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^~~~~~~~~~~~~
<source>:16:97: note: candidate: 'template<class C, class ... T, void (* fn)(const typename C::value_type&, T ...)> void map(const C&, T ...)'
16 | template <typename C, typename ... T, void fn(const typename C::value_type &, T ... args)> void map(const C & c, T ... args) {
| ^~~
<source>:16:97: note: template argument deduction/substitution failed:
<source>:29:56: error: type/value mismatch at argument 2 in template parameter list for 'template<class C, class ... T, void (* fn)(const typename C::value_type&, T ...)> void map(const C&, T ...)'
29 | map<some_container_type, int, float, char, some_fn>(sc, 1, 2, 3);
| ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^~~~~~~~~~~~~
<source>:29:56: note: expected a type, got 'some_fn'
Microsoft Visual C++ compiler (19.24.28314) gives a more descriptive error message:
error C3547: template parameter 'fn' cannot be used because it follows a template parameter pack and cannot be deduced from the function parameters of 'map'
Can someone explain if and how I can idiomatically accomplish for map to accept arbitrary arguments for forwarding these to fn?
I know I can pass fn to the map function as argument instead of specifying it as an argument to the template, but for reasons related to inlining and to better understand C++ templates, I'd like to retain fn a template rather than a function parameter.
I also don't want to use any libraries, including the standard library (what use of std I show in the examples above is only for clarifying the question). I know there are "functor" and "forward" somewhere in the libraries, but I suppose they too were written in C++, so I am curious if my problem can be solved without any libraries.
A simple way to fix this would be to deduce the non-type template parameter for the function, and reorder the template parameter list
template <typename C, auto fn, typename ... T>
void map(const C & c, T ... args) {
for(auto i : c) {
fn(i, args...);
}
}
and then call it like this
map<some_container_type, some_fn, int, float, char>(sc, 1, 2.0f, '3');
Here's a demo
You could also move fn to the beginning of the template parameter list.
template <auto fn, typename C, typename ... T>
void map(const C & c, T ... args) {
for(auto i : c) {
fn(i, args...);
}
}
Now since C and T can be deduced from the function arguments, this makes the call site much cleaner
map<some_fn>(sc, 1, 2.0f, '3');
Here's a demo

Failure to deduce template argument std::function from lambda function

While exploring templates in C++, I stumbled upon the example in the following code:
#include <iostream>
#include <functional>
template <typename T>
void call(std::function<void(T)> f, T v)
{
f(v);
}
int main(int argc, char const *argv[])
{
auto foo = [](int i) {
std::cout << i << std::endl;
};
call(foo, 1);
return 0;
}
To compile this program, I am using the GNU C++ Compiler g++:
$ g++ --version // g++ (Ubuntu 6.5.0-1ubuntu1~16.04) 6.5.0 20181026
After compiling for C++11, I get the following error:
$ g++ -std=c++11 template_example_1.cpp -Wall
template_example_1.cpp: In function ‘int main(int, const char**)’:
template_example_1.cpp:15:16: error: no matching function for call to ‘call(main(int, const char**)::<lambda(int)>&, int)’
call(foo, 1);
^
template_example_1.cpp:5:6: note: candidate: template<class T> void call(std::function<void(T)>, T)
void call(std::function<void(T)> f, T v)
^~~~
template_example_1.cpp:5:6: note: template argument deduction/substitution failed:
template_example_1.cpp:15:16: note: ‘main(int, const char**)::<lambda(int)>’ is not derived from ‘std::function<void(T)>’
call(foo, 1);
^
(same for C++14 and C++17)
From the compiler error and notes I understand that the compiler failed to deduce the type of the lambda, since it cannot be matched against std::function.
Looking at previous questions (1, 2, 3, and 4) regarding this error, I am still confused about it.
As pointed out in answers from questions 3 and 4, this error can be fixed by explicitly specifying the template argument, like so:
int main(int argc, char const *argv[])
{
...
call<int>(foo, 1); // <-- specify template argument type
// call<double>(foo, 1) // <-- works! Why?
return 0;
}
However, when I use other types instead of int, like double, float, char, or bool, it works as well, which got me more confused.
So, my questions are as follow:
Why does it work when I explicitly specify int (and others) as the template argument?
Is there a more general way to solve this?
A std::function is not a lambda, and a lambda is not a std::function.
A lambda is an anonymous type with an operator() and some other minor utility. Your:
auto foo = [](int i) {
std::cout << i << std::endl;
};
is shorthand for
struct __anonymous__type__you__cannot__name__ {
void operator()(int i) {
std::cout << i << std::endl;
}
};
__anonymous__type__you__cannot__name__ foo;
very roughly (there are actual convert-to-function pointer and some other noise I won't cover).
But, note that it does not inherit from std::function<void(int)>.
A lambda won't deduce the template parameters of a std::function because they are unrelated types. Template type deduction is exact pattern matching against types of arguments passed and their base classes. It does not attempt to use conversion of any kind.
A std::function<R(Args...)> is a type that can store anything copyable that can be invoked with values compatible with Args... and returns something compatible with R.
So std::function<void(char)> can store anything that can be invoked with a char. As int functions can be invoked with a char, that works.
Try it:
void some_func( int x ) {
std::cout << x << "\n";
}
int main() {
some_func('a');
some_func(3.14);
}
std::function does that some conversion from its signature to the callable stored within it.
The simplest solution is:
template <class F, class T>
void call(F f, T v) {
f(v);
}
now, in extremely rare cases, you actually need the signature. You can do this in c++17:
template<class T>
void call(std::function<void(T)> f, T v) {
f(v);
}
template<class F, class T>
void call(F f_in, T v) {
std::function f = std::forward<F>(f_in);
call(std::move(f), std::forward<T>(v));
}
Finally, your call is a crippled version of std::invoke from c++17. Consider using it; if not, use backported versions.

A piece of code cannot be compiled by intel compiler but clang will compile it

The following code is a minimum working (or perhaps non-working) example.
What it does is basically encapsulates a bunch of std::map structures as private members in a base class. To avoid writing a lot of setters and getters, they are implemented as template functions.
// test.cpp
#include <map>
#include <iostream>
enum class E0
{
F0, F1, F2,
};
The declaration of the base class.
using std::map;
class P_base
{
private:
map<E0, int> m_imap;
// ...
// ... Other std::map members with different key types and value types.
public:
map<E0, int> & imap;
// ...
// ... Other std::map references.
P_base() : imap(m_imap) {}
template<typename map_type, typename key_type, typename val_type>
void set(map_type & m, const key_type & k, const val_type & v)
{
m[k] = v;
}
template<typename map_type, typename key_type>
auto access_to_map(const map_type & m, const key_type & k) -> decltype(m.at(k))
{
return m.at(k);
}
};
class P : private P_base
{
public:
decltype(P_base::imap) & imap;
P() : P_base(), imap(P_base::imap) {}
template<typename map_type, typename key_type, typename val_type>
void set(map_type & m, const key_type & k, const val_type & v)
{
P_base::set(m, k, v);
}
template<typename map_type, typename key_type>
auto access_to_map(const map_type & m, const key_type & k) -> decltype(P_base::access_to_map(m, k))
{
return P_base::access_to_map(m, k);
}
};
main
int main(int argc, const char * argv[])
{
using std::cout;
using std::endl;
P op;
op.set(op.imap, E0::F0, 100);
op.set(op.imap, E0::F1, 101);
op.set(op.imap, E0::F2, 102);
cout << op.access_to_map(op.imap, E0::F1) << endl;
}
$ clang++ -std=c++11 test.cpp && ./a.out
101
But if I compile it with intel compiler (icpc version 15.0.3 (gcc version 5.1.0 compatibility)), the compiler gives me this error message (which I don't undertand at all, especially when clang will compile the code):
$ icpc -std=c++ test.cpp && ./a.out
test.cpp(67): error: no instance of function template "P::access_to_map" matches the argument list
argument types are: (std::__1::map<E0, int, std::__1::less<E0>, std::__1::allocator<std::__1::pair<const E0, int>>>, E0)
object type is: P
cout << op.access_to_map(op.imap, E0::F1) << endl;
And it also confuses me by not complaining about the set function.
Does anyone have any idea what is going on here?
Note: My answer applies to g++ - hopefully it's the same as icc.
Here is a smaller test case:
struct Base
{
int func(int t) { return t; }
};
struct Der : Base
{
template<typename T>
auto f(T t) -> decltype(Base::func(t))
{
return t;
}
};
int main(){ Der d; d.f(5); }
The error is:
mcv.cc: In function 'int main()':
mcv.cc:16:25: error: no matching function for call to 'Der::f(int)'
int main(){ Der d; d.f(5); }
^
mcv.cc:16:25: note: candidate is:
mcv.cc:9:7: note: template<class T> decltype (t->Base::func()) Der::f(T)
auto f(T t) -> decltype(Base::func(t))
^
mcv.cc:9:7: note: template argument deduction/substitution failed:
mcv.cc: In substitution of 'template<class T> decltype (t->Base::func()) Der::f(T) [with T = int]':
mcv.cc:16:25: required from here
mcv.cc:9:38: error: cannot call member function 'int Base::func(int)' without object
auto f(T t) -> decltype(Base::func(t))
This can be fixed by changing decltype(Base::func(t)) to decltype(this->Base::func(t)). A corresponding fix fixes your code sample, for me.
Apparently, the compiler doesn't consider that Base::func(t) should be called with *this as hidden argument. I don't know if this is a g++ bug, or if clang is going beyond the call of duty.
Note that in C++14, since the function has a single return statement, the trailing return type can be omitted entirely:
template<typename T>
auto f(T t)
{
return t;
}

T = char can't be deduced for std::basic_string<T> foo = "foo"?

Question:
In the code below, template argument type deduction seems to fail for the first sample, but not for the second sample. I don't understand why the first sample fails to deduce T = char. I would think that T can be deduced when converting from "foo" to std::bacis_string<T>, but even if that didn't work, I provide the second function argument which, I would think, would clearly constrain T to char. Why does it fail?
Does not work:
#include <iostream>
#include <string>
template <typename T>
void print(const std::basic_string<T>& a, const std::basic_string<T>& b)
{
std::cout << a << b << std::endl;
}
int main()
{
std::string bar = "bar";
print("foo", bar);
}
Error:
string.cpp:14:5: error: no matching function for call to 'print'
print("foo", bar);
^~~~~
string.cpp:6:6: note: candidate template ignored: could not match
'basic_string<type-parameter-0-0, char_traits<type-parameter-0-0>,
allocator<type-parameter-0-0> >' against 'char const[4]'
void print(const std::basic_string<T>& a, const std::basic_string<T>& b)
^
1 error generated.
Works:
#include <iostream>
#include <string>
template <typename T>
void print(const std::basic_string<T>& a, const std::basic_string<T>& b)
{
std::cout << a << b << std::endl;
}
int main()
{
std::string foo = "foo";
std::string bar = "bar";
print(foo, bar);
}
The problem is a conversion is required here. To deduce T, the compiler would have to inspect all possible instantiations of std::basic_string and see which of them can be constructed from a const char* (or actually const char (&)[4]). That's of course not possible, as there's infinitely many of them. The reason why it has to inspect all and cannot just scan the primary template definition for constructors taking const char* or const char(&)[4] is that for some T, std::basic_string<T> could be partially or completely specialised, and the members of those specialisations have no relationship to the members of the primary template.
Here's the short version of an answer.
The compiler has char const[] and is looking to convert that to std::basic_string<T>. How does it work out what T is? You know that you want to match T = char but the compiler does not know that.
It could look for a constructor basic_string<T>(char const *), for example. Even if that exists, it still does not say what T should be.
The compiler doesn't iterate over all possible typenames it knows about and attempt basic_string<T> for each one, and then see if there is a matching constructor.
Similar example:
template<typename T>
struct Foo
{
Foo(T t) {}
};
int main()
{
Foo(0); // error, can't deduce Foo<int>
}