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Now that we've covered explicit specializations and overloading let's
consider what happens when a class defines a tt(std::string) conversion
operator (cf. section ref(ConversionOperators)).
A conversion operator is guaranteed to be used as an rvalue. This means that
objects of a class defining a tt(string) conversion operator can be assigned
to, e.g., tt(string) objects. But when trying to insert objects defining
tt(string) conversion operators into streams then the compiler complains that
we're attempting to insert an inappropriate type into an tt(ostream).
On the other hand, when this class defines an tt(int) conversion operator
insertion is performed flawlessly.
The reason for this distinction is that tt(operator<<) is defined as a plain
(free) function when inserting a basic type (like tt(int)) but it is defined
as a function template when inserting a tt(string). Hence, when trying to
insert an object of our class defining a tt(string) conversion operator the
compiler visits all overloaded versions of insertion operators inserting into
tt(ostream) objects.
Since no basic type conversion is available the basic type insertion operators
can't be used. Since the available conversions for template arguments do not
allow the compiler to look for conversion operators our class defining the
tt(string) conversion operator cannot be inserted into an tt(ostream).
If it should be possible to insert objects of such a class into tt(ostream)
objects the class must define its own overloaded insertion operator (in
addition to the tt(string) conversion operator that was required to use the
class's objects as rvalue in tt(string) assignments).
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