Known problems in using the Microsoft Visual C++ compiler, version 6.0:

Please note that Microsoft has fixed all of the problems described below in Visual Studio.NET, so the following description is relevant only if you are using the earlier 6.0 version.

The Microsoft Visual C++ compiler, version 6.0 (which we shall call VC++ 6.0) fails to match the C++ standard in several ways that prevent some of the code in Accelerated C++ from compiling properly. This page describes the problems and shows how to change the code to avoid the problems.

Some of these problems recur throughout the text. For example, any problem that affects the student grading program will occur in Chapters 4, 6, 9, and 13, because that program occurs in all those chapters. We describe these pervasive problems first, followed by a list of problems specific to each chapter.

We have reported these bugs to the Microsoft folks and they are working on fixes. For example, in the first section below, which described persvasive problems, problem #2 has been fixed in Service Pack 4.

In each case we offer a suggested workaround. These workarounds generally use the #ifdef preprocessor directive. That directive works similarly to the #ifndef directive that we described in §4.3/67. The #ifdef directive asks the preprocessor to process text up to the corresponding #endif if the preprocessor symbol following #ifdef is defined. The Microsoft compiler defines the symbol _MSC_VER, which we test to conditionally include code special to the Microsoft compiler.

Pervasive bugs:

  1. When you write a using declaration for a container type, such as vector:
    you should then be able to use members of that container type, particularly type members, without further ado. For example:
    Unfortunately, VC++ 6.0 complains with a message that says something like
    The easiest way to work around this problem is to include std:: as an explicit qualifier, even though it should not be necessary:
  2. VC++ 6.0 prior to Service Pack 4 does not properly handle function arguments passed to template functions. This bug affects the student grading program that appears in a number of places in Accelerated C++. The problem occurs when using compare as an argument to the standard-library sort function:

    One workaround is to define the < operator for Student_info, which sort can use automatically. First define the appropriate function:


    Then replace the relevant calls as follows:
    A simpler workaround, but one that uses language features that do not appear until Chapter 10, is to place an explicit & operator before compare:
    We believe that this bug was fixed in Service Pack 4.

  3. The MS library fails to properly pad string output. Thus calls, such as
    should pad the output so that whatever value is in students[i].name is padded out to use at least maxlen+1 characters. Instead, the library provides no padding and so the names run into the next output.

    When we wrote the book, we assumed that fixing this problem would make our programs correct. Unfortunately, because of our inability to test the code, we failed to realize that setw would pad on the left rather than on the right, which is not the behavior we wanted.

    The easiest way to work around both of these problems is to write the required padding explicitly. For example:


    We have adopted this approach in the second and subsequent printings of Accelerated C++.

  4. The MS library does not define the min and max algorithms, which should be found in <algorithm> The workaround we use is to define a new header file, say minmax.h, which we include in any file that uses these functions:

Notes about specific chapters (including localized bugs):

Chapters 0-2

The code in these chapters should compile without complaint.

Chapter 3

Programs in this chapter will require workarounds for the pervasive bugs described above. In particular, the definition of vec_sz near the top of page 47 needs to be changed from to

Chapters 4-5

Programs in these chapters will require workarounds for the pervasive bugs described above.

Chapter 6

Programs in this chapter will require workarounds for the pervasive bugs described above.

In additon, although the program to find URLs should have using declarations for the character classification functions, isalpha and isalnum, VC++ 6.0 mistakenly says that these functions are not part of the std namespace. You can work around this bug by omitting the using declarations:

Chapter 7

Programs in this chapter will have to work around the first pervasive bug described above.

Chapter 8

  1. Problem #1 from above applies also to generic uses of containers and requires a similar workaround. For example, in the generic median program, it should be legal to write:
    But for VC++ 6.0, we must instead write:
  2. In the split function, it is correct to include a using declaration for the std::isspace function, but as in Chapter 6 and the isalpha and isalnum functions, VC++ 6.0 incorrectly says that isspace is not in namespace std. Use the same workaround--do not include a using declaration for isspace.

Chapter 9

Programs in this chapter will require workarounds for the pervasive bugs described above.

Chapter 10

The code in this chapters should compile without complaint.

Chapter 11

The allocate member of class std::allocator is defined to take a single argument of type size_t. VC++ 6.0 incorrectly requires a second argument, which it uses as a hint to optimize the performance of allocate. A null pointer can be passed as the second argument, which has the effect of not offering a hint. To work around the problem, rewrite each of the calls to allocate to pass this extra, non-standard argument.

For example, we can rewrite the call to allocate in Vec::create as follows:

Chapter 12

Similar to the problems in Chapters 6 and 8, where VC++ 6.0 fails to include the character classification functions (isalpha, isalnum, isspace etc.) as part of the std namespace, it also fails to include the strlen function in std. The workaround is analogous: Omit the qualification of std::strlen.

For example, in the Str constructor that takes a const char*:

Chapter 13

Programs in this chapter will require workarounds for the pervasive bugs described above.

In addition, the return type for the clone function in class Grad must be changed to be a Core* rather than a Grad* as written in the book:


because VC++ 6.0 does not yet allow a virtual function returning a pointer (or reference) to a base class to be defined in a derived class to return a pointer (or reference) to the derived type.

Chapter 14

The programs that reimplement earlier programs using Handle or Ptr will have to be fixed as described in the related chapter. For example, the student grading solution that uses a vector< Handle<Core> > will have to be corrected for the pervasive problems described above. Similarly, the Str class that is reimplemented using a Ptr will need to be adjusted to account for the MS bug related to strlen described in Chapter 12.

Chapter 15

Various functions use the max algorithm from the library and so, as described above, the calls to max will have to be replaced by corresponding calls to your own version.

For example, in VCat_Pic:

could be rewritten as:
Of course, a declaration for your version of max would also have to be included in the file in which this code resides.

Chapter 16

Programs in this chapter will require workarounds for the pervasive bugs described above.