Essential C++

6.2. The Template Class Definition

Here is a partial definition of our BinaryTree class template:

template <typename elemType> 
class BinaryTree { 
public: 
    BinaryTree(); 
    BinaryTree( const BinaryTree& ); 
    ~BinaryTree(); 
    BinaryTree& operator=( const BinaryTree& ); 

    bool empty() { return _root == 0; } 
    void clear(); 
private: 
    BTnode<elemType> *_root; 

    // copy a subtree addressed by src to tar 
    void copy( BTnode<elemType>*tar, BTnode<elemType>*src ); 
}; 

Defining an inline member function for a class template is the same as for a nonclass template, as the definition of empty() illustrates. The syntax for defining a class template member function outside the class body, however, looks very different, at least at first blush:

 template <typename elemType> ...