C++Now 2021

C++ gives us many opportunities to name two things the same. Two functions can have the same name if they have different signatures; two members can have the same name if they're in different classes; two entities can have the same name if they're in different namespaces. C++ also gives us a handful of tools to exploit same-named-ness: virtual functions and dynamic dispatch, overload resolution, templates, concepts, and (to a lesser extent) macros, typedefs, and namespace aliases. In this philosophical talk replete with cherry-picked examples, I contend that we should give two entities the same name if and only if we intend to manipulate them with one of these tools.