C++ Overload resolution Arithmetic promotions and conversions
Example
Converting an integer type to the corresponding promoted type is better than converting it to some other integer type.
void f(int x);
void f(short x);
signed char c = 42;
f(c); // calls f(int); promotion to int is better than conversion to short
short s = 42;
f(s); // calls f(short); exact match is better than promotion to int
Promoting a float to double is better than converting it to some other floating point type.
void f(double x);
void f(long double x);
f(3.14f); // calls f(double); promotion to double is better than conversion to long double
Arithmetic conversions other than promotions are neither better nor worse than each other.
void f(float x);
void f(long double x);
f(3.14); // ambiguous
void g(long x);
void g(long double x);
g(42); // ambiguous
g(3.14); // ambiguous
Therefore, in order to ensure that there will be no ambiguity when calling a function f with either integral or floating-point arguments of any standard type, a total of eight overloads are needed, so that for each possible argument type, either an overload matches exactly or the unique overload with the promoted argument type will be selected.
void f(int x);
void f(unsigned int x);
void f(long x);
void f(unsigned long x);
void f(long long x);
void f(unsigned long long x);
void f(double x);
void f(long double x);
