Question

#include <iostream>
#include <cstring>
#include <string>

template <typename T>
inline T const& max (T const& a, T const& b)
{
    return  a < b  ?  b : a;
}

inline char const* max (char const* a, char const* b)
{ 
    return  std::strcmp(a,b) < 0  ?  b : a;
}

template <typename T>
inline T const& max (T const& a, T const& b, T const& c)
{
    return max (max(a,b), c);  // error
}

int main ()
{
    ::max(7, 42, 68);     // OK

    const char* s1 = "frederic";
    const char* s2 = "anica";
    const char* s3 = "lucas";
    ::max(s1, s2, s3);    // ERROR

}

Could anybody please tell me why this is an error?

Answer 1

When you say:

 max (max(a,b), c)

max(char*,char*) returns a pointer BY VALUE. You then return a reference to this value. To make this work, you should make all your max() functions return values rather than references, as I think was suggested in an answer to your previous question, or make the char* overload take and return references to pointers.