The following code example is taken from the book
C++ Templates - The Complete Guide
by David Vandevoorde and Nicolai M. Josuttis, Addison-Wesley, 2002
© Copyright David Vandevoorde and Nicolai M. Josuttis 2002
#include <iostream>
#include <cstring>
#include <string>
// maximum of two values of any type (call-by-reference)
template <typename T>
inline T const& max (T const& a, T const& b)
{
return a < b ? b : a;
}
// maximum of two C-strings (call-by-value)
inline char const* max (char const* a, char const* b)
{
return std::strcmp(a,b) < 0 ? b : a;
}
// maximum of three values of any type (call-by-reference)
template <typename T>
inline T const& max (T const& a, T const& b, T const& c)
{
return max (max(a,b), c); // error, if max(a,b) uses call-by-value
}
int main ()
{
::max(7, 42, 68); // OK
const char* s1 = "frederic";
const char* s2 = "anica";
const char* s3 = "lucas";
::max(s1, s2, s3); // ERROR
}