Hello, I am confused about why two certain lamba expressions work (on VC8) while two others do not. I do not profess to be any sort of expert in boost lambda expressions. This code is being executed in a function which is a friend of a template "takostack". Basically, this function deals with a member "contents_" that is a scoped_array of scoped_ptrs. It is supposed to iteratively call the << operator for the elements of contents_ scoped_array. template<typename O> std::ostream& operator<< (std::ostream& os, const takostack<boost::scoped_ptr<O> >& s) { /* Works, not sure why */ for (int i(0); i < s.top_; ++i) { os << *(&boost::scoped_ptr<O>::get, boost::lambda::_1)(s.contents_[i]) << " "; } /* Works, not sure why */ std::for_each(&s.contents_[0], &s.contents_[0] + s.top_, os << *(&boost::scoped_ptr<O>::get, boost::lambda::_1)(boost::lambda::_1) << " "); /* Does not work, don't know why std::for_each(&s.contents_[0], &s.contents_[0] + s.top_, os << *(boost::lambda::_1 ->* &boost::scoped_ptr<O>::get)(boost::lambda::_1) << " "); */ /* Does not work, don't know why std::for_each(&s.contents_[0], &s.contents_[0] + s.top_, os << *(boost::bind(&boost::scoped_ptr<O>::get, boost::lambda::_1)(boost::lambda::_1)) << " "); */ } Basically, I would like to understand why compilation succeeds without using bind, and fails when bind or the member pointer operator is used. The first failed example fails with: Error 131 error C2784: 'const boost::lambda::lambda_functor<boost::lambda::lambda_functor_base<boost::lambda::other_action<Action>,boost::tuples::tuple<boost::lambda::lambda_functor<T>>>> boost::lambda::operator *(const boost::lambda::lambda_functor<T> &)' : could not deduce template argument for 'const boost::lambda::lambda_functor<T> &' from 'boost::lambda::detail::member_pointer_caller<RET,A,B>' d:\source\c\takostack\takostack\takostack.h 135 Error 132 error C2100: illegal indirection d:\source\c\takostack\takostack\takostack.h 135 Error 133 error C2679: binary '<<' : no operator found which takes a right-hand operand of type 'boost::lambda::detail::member_pointer_caller<RET,A,B>' (or there is no acceptable conversion) d:\source\c\takostack\takostack\takostack.h 135 The second failed example fails with: Error 131 error C2248: 'std::basic_ios<_Elem,_Traits>::basic_ios' : cannot access private member declared in class 'std::basic_ios<_Elem,_Traits>' D:\Microsoft Visual Studio 8\VC\include\ostream 581 Thanks, Matt