C++ overload resolution [duplicate]

The two “overloads” aren't in the same scope. By default, the compiler only considers the smallest possible name scope until it finds a name match. Argument matching is done afterwards. In your case this means that the compiler sees B::DoSomething. It then tries to match the argument list, which fails.

One solution would be to pull down the overload from A into B's scope:

class B : public A {
public:
    using A::DoSomething;
    // …
}

Overload resolution is one of the ugliest parts of C++

Basically the compiler finds a name match "DoSomething(int)" in the scope of B, sees the parameters don't match, and stops with an error.

It can be overcome by using the A::DoSomething in class B

class A  
{  
  public:  
    int DoSomething() {return 0;}
};  

class B : public A  
{  
  public:  
    using A::DoSomething;
    int DoSomething(int x) {return 1;} 
};   


int main(int argc, char** argv)
{
  B* b = new B();  
  // b->A::DoSomething();    // still works, but...
  b->DoSomething();    // works now too
  delete b;  
  return 0;
}