Question

Why does the following print “Generic” instead of “const A &”? I surmised that a dynamic_cast<> would have done the trick to calling the first f but it doesn’t. Why is this?

struct A {}; struct B : A {};

template <const A &>  void f()  { std::cout << "const A &"; }
template <typename T> void f(T) { std::cout << "Generic";   }

int main() {

   B b;

   f(dynamic_cast<const A &>(b)); // "Generic"

}

Answer 1

The first f() does not accept an argument, which leaves only the f(T) as a match.