Which compiler is right? 'template' before templated return type needed?

Question

This snippet (taken from this question) compiles fine with g++ (as seen), so long the template before the return type is there. In contrast, VC10 does not compi

Answer 1

GCC is right. AttributeType is a dependent template-name which is followed by angle bracket <, so the keyword template is required here to remove the ambiguity¹, making it clear to the compiler that what is followed is a template-name. The rule is mentioned in §14.2/4:

When the name of a member template specialization appears after . or -> in a postfix-expression, or after nested-name-specifier in a qualified-id, and the postfix-expression or qualified-id explicitly depends on a template-parameter (14.6.2), the member template name must be prefixed by the keyword template. Otherwise the name is assumed to name a non-template.

¹ @Johannes has written a very good explanation here:

Where and why do I have to put the "template" and "typename" keywords?