[cfe-dev] type-id/functional cast ambiguity resolution

[Argiris Kirtzidis]

Hi all,

Here's a test case:

void f() {
  int x = (int())+1;
}


GCC, MSVC and Comeau, all treat "(int())" as a cast to function type and 
report a "invalid cast" compile error.

The standard has this to say:

>   // C++ 8.2p2:
>   // The ambiguity arising from the similarity between a 
> function-style cast and
>   // a type-id can occur in different contexts. The ambiguity appears as a
>   // choice between a function-style cast expression and a declaration 
> of a
>   // type. The resolution is that any construct that could possibly be 
> a type-id
>   // in its syntactic context shall be considered a type-id.

In the above test case, the construct "int()" cannot be a type-id in its 
syntactic context, shouldn't it be considered as a function-style cast 
resulting in no compilation errors ?

You might think that all three compilers doesn't consider the type-id's 
syntactic context beyond the parentheses, but take a look at this:

void f() {
  (int());
}

All 3 compilers now regard "int()" as a function-style cast and report 
no errors.
That doesn't seem consistent, if the second case is regarded as correct, 
then the first one should be as well.

Any thoughts ?

-Argiris