Confused by asymmetric assignment operator templates

[AfterlifeBroker]

Hi,

Does anyone have an insight on why the code below produces linker errors claiming that the assignment operator template functions were not found ("LNK2019: unresolved external symbol", using MSVC 2008)? I assume I've messed something up, but can't figure it out myself...

-- a.h --
class A
{
	template <class T> operator=(const T& value);
};

-- a.cpp --
#include "a.h"
#include <iostream>

template <typename T>
A& A::operator=(const T& value)
{
	std::cout << value << std::endl;
	return *this;
}

-- main.cpp --
#include "a.h"

int main(int argc, char** argv)
{
	A a;

	a = 1.0f;
	a = "test";

	return 0;
}

Any help or thoughts on the subject would be greatly appreciated

[laserlight]

You might want to read this FAQ: Why can't I separate the definition of my templates class from it's declaration and put it inside a .cpp file?

On a related, and arguably more relevant (since you have a function template) note: How can I avoid linker errors with my template functions?

[AfterlifeBroker]

You're absolutely right, that's what I wasn't taking in account for. Thank you very much for the links!