Can you use keyword explicit to prevent automatic conversion of method parameters?

Question

I know you can use C++ keyword \'explicit\' for constructors of classes to prevent an automatic conversion of type. Can you use this same command to prevent the conversion

Answer 1

The following is a very basic wrapper that can be used to create a strong typedef:

template  
class StrongType
{
public:
  inline explicit StrongType(V const &v)
  : m_v(v)
  {}

  inline operator V () const
  {
    return m_v;
  }

private:
  V m_v; // use V as "inner" type
};

class Tag1;
typedef StrongType Tag1Type;


void b1 (Tag1Type);

void b2 (int i)
{
  b1 (Tag1Type (i));
  b1 (i);                // Error
}

One nice feature of this approach, is that you can also distinguish between different parameters with the same type. For example you could have the following:

class WidthTag;
typedef StrongType Width;  
class HeightTag;
typedef StrongType Height;  

void foo (Width width, Height height);

It will be clear to the clients of 'foo' which argument is which.