Modern C++ Programming Cookbook

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static_assert and std::enable_if can be used to achieve the same goals. In fact, in the previous recipe, Performing compile-time assertion checks with static_assert, we have defined the same class template pod_wrapper and function template mul(). For these examples, static_assert seems like a better solution because the compiler emits better error messages (provided that you specify relevant messages in the static_assert declaration). These two, however, work quite differently and are not intended as alternatives.

static_assert does not rely on SFINAE and is applied after overload resolution is performed. The result of a failed assert is a compiler error. On the other hand, std::enable_if is used to remove candidates from ...