Placing an overload of an std:: algorithm/utility function in the std namespace

[Shriramana Sharma]

Hello. IIUC one is normally discouraged from trying to include one's own code into the std:: namespace, but it is OK to do so when one is specializinga generic std:: algorithm or utility function (like swap) for one's own classes, right? I mean one would then do:

namespace std {
void swap ( myclass & a, myclass & b ) { _code_goes_here_ }
}

.... correct?

Thank you!

 

[Bo Persson]

Shriramana Sharma wrote 2013-06-27 11:09:

Hello. IIUC one is normally discouraged from trying to include one's own code into
the std:: namespace, but it is OK to do so when one is specializing a
generic std:: algorithm or utility function (like swap) for
one's own classes, right?

I mean one would then do:

namespace std {
void swap ( myclass & a, myclass & b ) { _code_goes_here_ }
}

... correct?

Technically this is an overloaded function and not a specialization, so
not allowed.

In practice, you should add your swap function to the same namespace as
myclass and the standard library will pick it up using argument
dependent lookup.


Bo Persson

 

[Shriramana Sharma]

Hi people and thanks for your replies. I understand it now.