i am using Visual C++ 6.0 and was trying out template specialization and kept getting these errors that i did not understand. come to find out that Visual 6 doesnt support this. so i am like ok, lets try .NET.. guess what, this doesnt support it either. my question is, WHY NOT? ill have to move to linux to do this but still that is a pain..

I believe Visual C++ 7.1 supports it somewhat..

Not sure about VC6 (It's been a while), but .Net should support template specialization, .Net 2003 adds partial template specialization.

A) What is the code you are trying to compile? It's possible that it won't compile because you have made an error.

B) There are other compilers that work under Windows besides Visual C++. The GNU Compiler Collection and Borland C++ spring to mind. Both of these can be obtained for free.

Enigma

Post your code and error your compiler gives you. You might made a error somewhere as errors in templates are sometimes hard to read. But in general .Net 2003 compiles (partial) specialized templates just fine. (And as far as I know, it's more up to standard as GCC and Borland C++. What else do you want from free compiler?)