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---
title: Portability Hints: Borland C++ 5.5.1
copyright: 
revised: 2007-10-22 22:55:52 +0100
---


Portability Hints: Borland C++ 5.5.1



Portability Hints: Borland C++ 5.5.1
====================================

It is a general aim for boost libraries to be [portable](/development/requirements.html#Portability). The
 primary means for achieving this goal is to adhere to ISO
 Standard C++. However, ISO C++ is a broad and complex standard
 and most compilers are not fully conformant to ISO C++ yet. In
 order to achieve portability in the light of this restriction,
 it seems advisable to get acquainted with those language
 features that some compilers do not fully implement yet.


This page gives portability hints on some language features
 of the Borland C++ version 5.5.1 compiler. Furthermore, the
 appendix presents additional problems with Borland C++ version
 5.5. Borland C++ 5.5.1 is a freely available command-line
 compiler for Win32 available at <http://www.borland.com/>.


Each entry in the following list describes a particular
 issue, complete with sample source code to demonstrate the
 effect. Most sample code herein has been verified to compile
 with gcc 2.95.2 and Comeau C++ 4.2.44.


Preprocessor symbol
-------------------


The preprocessor symbol `__BORLANDC__` is defined
 for all Borland C++ compilers. Its value is the version number
 of the compiler interpreted as a hexadecimal number. The
 following table lists some known values.

| Compiler | `__BORLANDC__` value |
| --- | --- |
| Borland C++ Builder 4 | 0x0540 |
| Borland C++ Builder 5 | 0x0550 |
| Borland C++ 5.5 | 0x0550 |
| Borland C++ 5.5.1 | 0x0551 |
| Borland C++ Builder 6 | 0x0560 |


Core Language
-------------


### [using-directive] Mixing `using`-declarations
 and `using`-directives


Mixing `using`-directives (which refer to whole
 namespaces) and namespace-level `using`-declarations
 (which refer to individual identifiers within foreign
 namespaces) causes ambiguities where there are none. The
 following code fragment illustrates this:
```

namespace N {
  int x();
}

using N::x;
using namespace N;

int main()
{
  &x;     // Ambiguous overload
}

```

### [using template] `using`-declarations for class
 templates


Identifiers for class templates can be used as arguments to
 `using`-declarations as any other identifier.
 However, the following code fails to compile with Borland
 C++:
```

template<class T>
class X { };

namespace N
{
  // "cannot use template 'X<T>' without specifying specialization parameters"
  using ::X;
};

```

### [template const arg] Deduction of constant arguments to
 function templates


Template function type deduction should omit top-level
 constness. However, this code fragment instantiates "f<const
 int>(int)":
```

template<class T>
void f(T x)
{
        x = 1;  // works
        (void) &x;
        T y = 17;
        y = 20;  // "Cannot modify a const object in function f<const int>(int)"
        (void) &y;
}

int main()
{
        const int i = 17;
        f(i);
}

```

### [function address] Resolving addresses of overloaded
 functions


Addresses of overloaded functions are not in all contexts
 properly resolved (std:13.4 [over.over]); here is a small
 example:
```

template<class Arg>
void f( void(\*g)(Arg) );

void h(int);
void h(double);

template<class T>
void h2(T);

int main()
{
  void (\*p)(int) = h;            // this works (std:13.4-1.1)
  void (\*p2)(unsigned char) = h2;    // this works as well (std:13.4-1.1)
  f<int>(h2);  // this also works (std:13.4-1.3)

  // "Cannot generate template specialization from h(int)",
  // "Could not find a match for f<Arg>(void (\*)(int))"
  f<double>(h);   // should work (std:13.4-1.3)

  f( (void(\*)(double))h);  // C-style cast works (std:13.4-1.6 with 5.4)

  // "Overloaded 'h' ambiguous in this context"
  f(static\_cast<void(\*)(double)>(h)); // should work (std:13.4-1.6 with 5.2.9)
}

```

**Workaround:** Always use C-style casts when
 determining addresses of (potentially) overloaded
 functions.


### [string conversion] Converting `const char *` to
 `std::string`


Implicitly converting `const char *` parameters
 to `std::string` arguments fails if template
 functions are explicitly instantiated (it works in the usual
 cases, though):
```

#include <string>

template<class T>
void f(const std::string & s)
{}

int main()
{
  f<double>("hello");  // "Could not find a match for f<T>(char \*)"
}


```

**Workaround:** Avoid explicit template
 function instantiations (they have significant problems with
 Microsoft Visual C++) and pass default-constructed unused dummy
 arguments with the appropriate type. Alternatively, if you wish
 to keep to the explicit instantiation, you could use an
 explicit conversion to `std::string` or declare the
 template function as taking a `const char *`
 parameter.


### [template value defaults] Dependent default arguments for
 template value parameters


Template value parameters which default to an expression
 dependent on previous template parameters don't work:
```

template<class T>
struct A
{
  static const bool value = true;
};

// "Templates must be classes or functions", "Declaration syntax error"
template<class T, bool v = A<T>::value>
struct B {};

int main()
{
  B<int> x;
}


```

**Workaround:** If the relevant non-type
 template parameter is an implementation detail, use inheritance
 and a fully qualified identifier (for example,
 ::N::A<T>::value).


### [function partial ordering] Partial ordering of function
 templates


Partial ordering of function templates, as described in
 std:14.5.5.2 [temp.func.order], does not work:
```

#include <iostream>

template<class T> struct A {};

template<class T1>
void f(const A<T1> &)
{
  std::cout << "f(const A<T1>&)\n";
}

template<class T>
void f(T)
{
  std::cout << "f(T)\n";
}

int main()
{
  A<double> a;
  f(a);   // output: f(T)  (wrong)
  f(1);   // output: f(T)  (correct)
}

```

**Workaround:** Declare all such functions
 uniformly as either taking a value or a reference
 parameter.


### [instantiate memfun ptr] Instantiation with member function
 pointer


When directly instantiating a template with some member
 function pointer, which is itself dependent on some template
 parameter, the compiler cannot cope:
```

template<class U> class C { };
template<class T>
class A
{
  static const int v = C<void (T::\*)()>::value;
};

```

**Workaround:** Use an intermediate
 `typedef`:
```

template<class U> class C { };
template<class T>
class A
{
  typedef void (T::\*my\_type)();
  static const int v = C<my\_type>::value;
};

```

(Extracted from e-mail exchange of David Abrahams, Fernando
 Cacciola, and Peter Dimov; not actually tested.)


Library
-------


### [cmath.abs] Function `double std::abs(double)`
 missing


The function `double std::abs(double)` should be
 defined (std:26.5-5 [lib.c.math]), but it is not:
```

#include <cmath>

int main()
{
  double (\*p)(double) = std::abs;  // error
}

```

Note that `int std::abs(int)` will be used
 without warning if you write `std::abs(5.1)`.


Similar remarks apply to seemingly all of the other standard
 math functions, where Borland C++ fails to provide
 `float` and `long double` overloads.


**Workaround:** Use `std::fabs`
 instead if type genericity is not required.


Appendix: Additional issues with Borland C++ version
 5.5
---------------------------------------------------------


These issues are documented mainly for historic reasons. If
 you are still using Borland C++ version 5.5, you are strongly
 encouraged to obtain an upgrade to version 5.5.1, which fixes
 the issues described in this section.


### [inline friend] Inline friend functions in template
 classes


If a friend function of some class has not been declared
 before the friend function declaration, the function is
 declared at the namespace scope surrounding the class
 definition. Together with class templates and inline
 definitions of friend functions, the code in the following
 fragment should declare (and define) a non-template function
 "bool N::f(int,int)", which is a friend of class
 N::A<int>. However, Borland C++ v5.5 expects the function
 f to be declared beforehand:
```

namespace N {
template<class T>
class A
{
  // "f is not a member of 'N' in function main()"
  friend bool f(T x, T y) { return x < y; }
};
}

int main()
{
  N::A<int> a;
}

```

This technique is extensively used in boost/operators.hpp.
 Giving in to the wish of the compiler doesn't work in this
 case, because then the "instantiate one template, get lots of
 helper functions at namespace scope" approach doesn't work
 anymore. Defining BOOST\_NO\_OPERATORS\_IN\_NAMESPACE (a define
 BOOST\_NO\_INLINE\_FRIENDS\_IN\_CLASS\_TEMPLATES would match this
 case better) works around this problem and leads to another
 one, see [using-template].






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