Abstract

to see if there's a member function template it can instantiate that would let it perform the conversion it's looking for. It finds such a template (the one taking the formal type parameter newType), so it instantiates the template with newType bound to the base class of T that's the target of the conversion. At that point, the only question is whether the code for the instantiated member function will compile. In order for it to compile, it must be legal to pass the (dumb) pointer pointee to the constructor for the smart pointer-to-base-of-T. pointee is of type T, so it is certainly legal to convert it into a pointer to its (public or protected) base classes. Hence, the code for the type conversion operator will compile, and the implicit conversion from smart pointer-to-T to smart pointer-to-base-of- Twill succeed. This is a pre-publication d

Citations