2930. Are implementations allowed to split non-member functions into several overloads?

Section: 16.4.6.4 [global.functions] Status: NAD Submitter: Morwenn Opened: 2017-02-04 Last modified: 2017-03-14

Priority: Not Prioritized

View all other issues in [global.functions].

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Discussion:

Section 16.4.6.5 [member.functions] makes it clear that standard library implementers are allowed to "replace a member function with default arguments with two or more member functions with equivalent behavior". However, it is unclear when reading 16.4.6.4 [global.functions] whether implementers are allowed to perform the same transformation for non-member functions. 16.4.6.4 [global.functions] p3 mentions that "an implementation shall not declare a non-member function signature with additional default arguments", but does not explicitly forbid to replace a function with default arguments with more functions with equivalent behavior.

The standard should make it clear whether such a transformation is conforming or not, probably through a note [global.functions].

Link to the Standard Discussion forum.

[2017-03-04, Kona]

We believe that [member.functions]p2 is clear.

Proposed resolution: