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This reports a bug in g++ version 2.3.1 and 2.3.3.

If you specify a conversion method that converts a class object to A REFERENCE
to something else, then g++ never generates code that calls this conversion
method. The following example defines a class "test" that has a conversion
operator int&() that is never called, even if we specify a typecast from "test"
to "int&" (as is done in the second line of main()):
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
#include <stdio.h>

class test
{
   double d;
   int    i;
public:
   test(double dd,int ii) {d=dd; i=ii;} // constructor
   operator int&()        {return i;} // define a conversion from test to int&
   int& geti()            {return i;} // same thing, but different
};

main()
{
   test t(3.14, 5);  // Create an object t of class "test"
   int x = (int&)t;  // This should call operator int&() but it does not ...
   int y = t.geti(); // x and y should both be 5 ...
   printf("%d\n%d\n", x, y);
}
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The output (on a sparc station) of this program is:

    % gcc test.C
    % a.out
    1074339512
    5

The same problem appears on a HP snake. The problem disappears if we specify
any other conversion method for the class test that is not a conversion to a
reference to something. For instance, "operator int ()" works fine, but
"operator int& ()" does not.

Paul Stravers
-- 
Delft University of Technology      |  email stravers@donau.et.tudelft.nl
Faculty of Electrical Engineering   |  fax +31 15 786190
Mekelweg 4                          |  ph. +31 15 786280
2628 CD   Delft                     |
the Netherlands                     |