Consider the following header file:
template <typename T> struct tNode
{
T Data; //the data contained within this node
list<tNode<T>*> SubNodes; //a list of tNodes pointers under this tNode
tNode(const T& theData)
//PRE: theData is initialized
//POST: this->data == theData and this->SubNodes have an initial capacity
// equal to INIT_CAPACITY, it is set to the head of SubNodes
{
this->Data = theData;
SubNodes(INIT_CAPACITY); //INIT_CAPACITY is 10
}
};
Now consider a line of code from another file:
list<tNode<T>*>::iterator it(); //iterate through the SubNodes
The compiler is giving me this error message: Tree.h:38:17: error: need ‘typename’ before ‘std::list<tNode<T>*>::iterator’ because ‘std::list<tNode<T>*>’ is a dependent scope
I have no idea why the compiler is yelling at me for this.
In list<tNode<T>*>::iterator
, you have a dependant name, that is, a name that depends on a template parameter.
As such, the compiler can't inspect list<tNode<T>*>
(it doesn't have its definition at this point) and so it doesn't know whether list<tNode<T>*>::iterator
is either a static field or a type.
In such a situation, the compiler assumes that it is a field, so in your case it yields a syntax error. To solve the issue, just tell the compiler that it is a type by putting a typename
ahead of the declaration:
typename list<tNode<T>*>::iterator it