Skip to Content
C++ FAQs, Second Edition
book

C++ FAQs, Second Edition

by Marshall Cline, Greg Lomow, Mike Girou
December 1998
Intermediate to advanced
624 pages
13h 8m
English
Addison-Wesley Professional
Content preview from C++ FAQs, Second Edition

Chapter 25. Templates

FAQ 25.01 What is the purpose of templates?

Templates share source code among structurally similar families of classes and functions.

Many data structures and algorithms can be defined independently of the type of data they manipulate. A template allows the separation of the type-dependent part from the type-independent part. The result is a significant amount of code sharing.

A template is like a cookie cutter: all the cookies it creates have the same basic shape, though they might be made from different kinds of dough. A class template describes how to build classes that implement the same data structure and algorithm, and a function template describes how to build functions that implement the same algorithm.

In other ...

Become an O’Reilly member and get unlimited access to this title plus top books and audiobooks from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers, thousands of courses curated by job role, 150+ live events each month,
and much more.

Read now

Unlock full access

More than 5,000 organizations count on O’Reilly

AirBnbBlueOriginElectronic ArtsHomeDepotNasdaqRakutenTata Consultancy Services

QuotationMarkO’Reilly covers everything we've got, with content to help us build a world-class technology community, upgrade the capabilities and competencies of our teams, and improve overall team performance as well as their engagement.
Julian F.
Head of Cybersecurity
QuotationMarkI wanted to learn C and C++, but it didn't click for me until I picked up an O'Reilly book. When I went on the O’Reilly platform, I was astonished to find all the books there, plus live events and sandboxes so you could play around with the technology.
Addison B.
Field Engineer
QuotationMarkI’ve been on the O’Reilly platform for more than eight years. I use a couple of learning platforms, but I'm on O'Reilly more than anybody else. When you're there, you start learning. I'm never disappointed.
Amir M.
Data Platform Tech Lead
QuotationMarkI'm always learning. So when I got on to O'Reilly, I was like a kid in a candy store. There are playlists. There are answers. There's on-demand training. It's worth its weight in gold, in terms of what it allows me to do.
Mark W.
Embedded Software Engineer

You might also like

Optimized C++

Optimized C++

Kurt Guntheroth
C++ Reactive Programming

C++ Reactive Programming

Praseed Pai, Peter Abraham
C++ Windows Programming

C++ Windows Programming

Stefan Bjornander

Publisher Resources

ISBN: 0201309831Purchase book