Navigating C++ and Object-Oriented Design

10.1. Why Should Classes Be Generic?

Many classes manage only one type. Class String (page 311), for instance, handles characters, whereas class Complex (page 293) works only with doubles. These groups of classes are not generic because they always manage the same type.

You must be careful when designing classes to anticipate managing generic types. Consider the following integer Stack class, for instance.

 class Stack { // Integer Stack private: int *v; // pointer to integer data int top; // top of Stack int len; // length of Stack Stack(const Stack &); // disable copy constructor Stack & operator=(const Stack &); // disable assignment enum { maxlen = 80 }; // default length public: // Constructor explicit Stack(int size = maxlen); // Destructor ...