This is an unofficial snapshot of the ISO/IEC JTC1 SC22 WG21 Core Issues List revision 114a. See http://www.open-std.org/jtc1/sc22/wg21/ for the official list.

2024-04-18

44. Member specializations

Section: 13.9.4  [temp.expl.spec]     Status: CD1     Submitter: Nathan Myers     Date: 19 Sep 1998

[Moved to DR at 4/01 meeting.]

Some compilers reject the following:

    struct A {
        template <int I> void f();
        template <> void f<0>();
    };
on the basis of 13.9.4 [temp.expl.spec] paragraph 2:
An explicit specialization shall be declared in the namespace of which the template is a member, or, for member templates, in the namespace of which the enclosing class or enclosing class template is a member. An explicit specialization of a member function, member class or static data member of a class template shall be declared in the namespace of which the class template is a member. ...
claiming that the specialization above is not "in the namespace of which the enclosing class ... is a member". Elsewhere, declarations are sometimes required to be "at" or "in" "namespace scope", which is not what it says here. Paragraph 17 says:
A member or a member template may be nested within many enclosing class templates. If the declaration of an explicit specialization for such a member appears in namespace scope, the member declaration shall be preceded by a template<> for each enclosing class template that is explicitly specialized.
The qualification "if the declaration ... appears in namespace scope", implies that it might appear elsewhere. The only other place I can think of for a member specialization is in class scope.

Was it the intent of the committee to forbid the construction above? (Note that A itself is not a template.) If so, why?

Proposed resolution (04/01): In-class specializations of member templates are not allowed. In 13.9.4 [temp.expl.spec] paragraph 17, replace

If the declaration of an explicit specialization for such a member appears in namespace scope...
with
In an explicit specialization for such a member...

Notes from 04/00 meeting:

This issue was kept in "review" status for two major reasons:

  1. It's not clear that a change is actually needed. All uses of the phrase "in the namespace" in the IS mean "directly in the namespace," not in a scope nested within the namespace.
  2. There was substantial sentiment for actually adding support for in-class specializations at a future time, and it might be perceived as a reversal of direction to pass a change aimed at reinforcing the absence of the feature, only to turn around afterward and add it.

Notes from 10/00 meeting:

The core working group felt that the value of additional clarity here outweighs the potential disadvantages that were noted at the preceding meeting.