Specialization of class template functions

Question

Hello all,
what's wrong with this code? It works just fine with g++.
class Foo {
public:
Foo() { }
template <typename T> void method();
template <> void Foo::method<int>() { }
int main(int argc, char *argv[])
Foo foo;
foo.method<int>(); //OK
Foo& foo_ref = foo;
foo_ref.method<int>(); // Error: Badly formed expression.
Foo foo_arr[10];
foo_arr[0].method<int>(); // Error: Badly formed expression.
return 0;
CC -o foo foo.cc"foo.cc", line 15: Error: Badly formed expression.
"foo.cc", line 18: Error: Badly formed expression.
2 Error(s) detected.
CC -V
CC: Sun WorkShop 6 update 2 C++ 5.3 Patch 111685-06 2002/03/09
-- Michael

Answer 1

You need to invoke as:
foo_ref.template method<int>();
and
foo_arr.template method<int>();
because your opening angle bracket is being parsed as a "less than" operator, because the compiler doesn't realize that its a template. This is a known weirdness of the language. If you have Stroustrup Special Edition, it is explained on page 858, section C.13.6.