reference/pointer to arrays type-cast operators

[martin]

hi guys,

have you ever tried to create a type-cast operator to a
'reference/pointer to an array'? i hadn't, not until yesterday when i
discovered that it is not exactly the trivial task one'd assume it to
be - none of my apparently naive attempts were accepted for a valid
type-cast operator by any of the compilers i threw them at (i.e. gcc
2.95.3, gcc 3.3.3, vc 2003).
so assume we have:

template < unsigned T >
class A
{
float m[T];
};

which we want to be able to cast to the data type of its sole data
member m. a supposedly correct way would be a member operator:

operator const float (& () const)[T];

which unfortunately ended up in a bunch of syntax errors on all
compilers tested; then the 'out of ideas' attempt:

oprator const float (&)[T] () const;

just got me accused (and rightfully so) of trying to declare an
operator as an array of functions.

so please tell me i was being stupid and i missed something obvious
here.

regards
martin 'blu' krastev

[Victor Bazarov]

martin wrote:

have you ever tried to create a type-cast operator to a
'reference/pointer to an array'? i hadn't, not until yesterday when i
discovered that it is not exactly the trivial task one'd assume it to
be - none of my apparently naive attempts were accepted for a valid
type-cast operator by any of the compilers i threw them at (i.e. gcc
2.95.3, gcc 3.3.3, vc 2003).
so assume we have:

template < unsigned T >
class A
{
float m[T];
};

which we want to be able to cast to the data type of its sole data
member m. a supposedly correct way would be a member operator:

operator const float (& () const)[T];

which unfortunately ended up in a bunch of syntax errors on all
compilers tested; then the 'out of ideas' attempt:

oprator const float (&)[T] () const;

just got me accused (and rightfully so) of trying to declare an
operator as an array of functions.

so please tell me i was being stupid and i missed something obvious
here.

Use a typedef:
--------------------------------------------------------

template<unsigned T> class A
{
float m[T];
public:
typedef const float (&rcfa)[T]; // this should help
operator rcfa() const { return m; }
};

void foo(float const (&rfa)[5])
{
}

int main() {
A<5> a;
foo(a);
A<10> aa;
foo(aa); // error
}
--------------------------------------------------------

V