From: "Steve Ball" <steve AT effectivejava DOT com>
Newsgroups: comp.os.msdos.djgpp
Subject: Can't specify initial value for template static fields
Date: Mon, 12 Jul 1999 09:22:03 +1200
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To: djgpp AT delorie DOT com
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Reply-To: djgpp AT delorie DOT com

Is there any reason why I can't specify an initial value for a static field
of a templated class?

template <typename T>
class X {
public:
    static int n;
};

template <typename T>
int X<T>::n;

void main()
{
    X<int> t;
    cout << t.n;
}

This works fine, but if n is given an initial value:

template <typename T>
int X<T>::n = 1;

then the linker complains that X<int>::n is an undefined symbol.

What am I missing here?