C++ Templates: The Complete Guide

Chapter 11. Template Argument Deduction

Explicitly specifying template arguments on every call to a function template (for example, concat<std::string, int>(s, 3)) can quickly lead to unwieldy code. Fortunately, a C++ compiler can often automatically determine the intended template arguments using a powerful process called template argument deduction.

In this chapter we explain the details of the template argument deduction process. As is often the case in C++, there are many rules that usually produce an intuitive result. A solid understanding of this chapter allows us to avoid the more surprising situations.

11.1 The Deduction Process

The deduction process compares the types of an argument of a function call with the corresponding parameterized ...