Hi All

        consider the following snippet of code:

template <class T> class A
{
  private:
    T i;

  public:
    A(const T &);
    A<T> & add(const A<T> &);
    inline friend A<T> plus(const A<T> &a1, const A<T> &a2);
//  ^^^^^^ note this
};

template <class T> inline A<T> plus(const A<T> &a1, const A<T> &a2)
{
    return A<T>(a1.i + a2.i);
}

Now this is fine as it stands and compiles and links ok.  However, if
I remove the inline from the class construct, plus() can not be resolved
at link time.  Now I understand why this particular compiler needs to know
if this friend function is inline within the class construct, but I'm
wondering if this is just a requirement of the compiler or a requirement of
the language?


Thanks

Rob