Best Practices for Function Overloading in C++

When overloading functions, consider these best practices:

1. Overloads should perform similar operations. The function name should clearly express what the function does, regardless of the argument types.
2. Avoid ambiguous overloads. If implicit conversions could lead to multiple overloads being callable, the code will not compile.
3. Use const-correctness. If an overload doesn't modify its arguments, declare them as const.
4. Consider using templates. If your overloads only differ in types and not in logic, a template might be a better choice.

Here's an example of clear, unambiguous overloads:

1#include <string>
2
3void SaveData(const std::string& data);
4void SaveData(int data);

And here's an example of ambiguous overloads:

1void Process(int data);
2void Process(double data);
3
4Process(10);   // Fine
5Process(4.2);  // Fine
6
7// Ambiguous! Both Process(int) and
8// Process(double) could be called.
9Process(0);