List of (names of) functions that are specially recognized by C++. (e.g. operator++,begin)

Question

I have just learned C++ for a little bit, and discover some special functions.

Example 1

bool operator<(const B& b1,const B& b2)
bool B::operator<(const B& b2) const
//recognized by std::sort

Example 2

MyIterator C::begin();
MyIterator begin(C& c);
//recognized by range-based loop

As far as I know, those function are specially recognized in C++.
(Furthermore, in each pair, they are somehow recognized in the same manner.)

Question

What are the list of all functions that are recognized as special?
In other words, is there any part in C++ (official) specification that summarizes the list of them + how special they are?

I believe that if I blindly code without this knowledge, I may make some silly mistake, especially when interact with std:: class.

Sorry for a not-so-sensible topic name, but I can't think of a better one.

Answer 1

IMO, following are treated specially in C++:

• main(), which has more than 1 valid syntax
• Constructors & Destructors
• Certain special keywords, which are used as of like functions: 4 casts (static, dynamic, const, reinterpret) and typeid
• begin() & end() methods or functions are specially treated while dealing with range based for loops
• All kind of overloaded operators
• Conversion operators e.g. struct A { operator int (); };

Few items might be missing. Not sure, if everything is listed somewhere in standard, next to impossible.

However, your fear for messing up with namespace std is misplaced. It does contain some standard functions, but unless you don't do using namespace std, there is no fear of any messing up.