Question

I have a templated class which contains a static function which does not depend on the template parameter. Yet the compiler seems to force me to specify a typename when I use the function.

template <typename T>
class MyClass {
    ...
    static void function();
};

template <typename T>
void MyClass<T>::function() {
    ....
}

This function can be used as:

MyClass<int>::function();

But the ‘int’ is just there to satisfy the compiler. It doesn’t mean anything, and can be replaced by any other type, which doesn’t increase code readability. I would like to do someting like

MyClass<>::function();

or even

MyClass::function();

but the compiler doesn’t let me. I realize that this is because in the header files I have explicitly marked the function as being templated, but when I remove the ‘< T >’ from the header file it doesn’t compile either.

What is the correct way to do this?

Answer 1

Imagine you had this:

template <typename T> struct Foo
{
    static void boom()
    {
        static int n = 0;
        std::cout << ++n << std::endl;
    }
};

Now imagine what happens if you say Foo<int>::boom(); Foo<int>::boom();, and compare that to the not-at-all equivalent Foo<int>::boom(); Foo<char>::boom();.