为什么不能使用与成员类型同名的方法？

Question

Here is some code that fails in VS2012:

class A;

class B
{
    bool A();
    A member; // Error: function B::A is not a type name
};

Why doesn't this work? Obviously I'm trying to create a member of type A , not of type B:A() (which isn't a type, as the compiler correctly points out). Is there some way around this without changing the names of either B:A() or class A ? Can I explicitly tell the compiler that I want member to be of type class A ?

Answer 1

It's possible, you just need to make clear that you want to use the class A :

class A;

class B
{
    bool A();
    class A member;
};

Answer 2

It fails because they share a namespace. C++ cannot, in general distinguish types and functions based on context (is A() a constructor or a function call). You can make it explicit which one you refer to, eg

class A;

class B
{
    bool A();
    ::A member;
};