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Template Specialization

Template specialization allows defining a different implementation for a class template when a specific type is passed as a template argument. For example, a class template "mycontainer" can be specialized for type "char" to have a different member function "uppercase()" instead of the generic "increase()". The syntax for a class template specialization declares the class preceded by "template<>" and includes the specialized type in angle brackets after the class name. All members must be defined even if identical to the generic template.

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61 views2 pages

Template Specialization

Template specialization allows defining a different implementation for a class template when a specific type is passed as a template argument. For example, a class template "mycontainer" can be specialized for type "char" to have a different member function "uppercase()" instead of the generic "increase()". The syntax for a class template specialization declares the class preceded by "template<>" and includes the specialized type in angle brackets after the class name. All members must be defined even if identical to the generic template.

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icul1
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Template specialization

It is possible to define a different implementation for a template when a specific type is passed as
template argument. This is called a template specialization.

For example, let's suppose that we have a very simple class called mycontainer that can store
one element of any type and that has just one member function called increase, which increases
its value. But we find that when it stores an element of type char it would be more convenient to
have a completely different implementation with a function member uppercase, so we decide to
declare a class template specialization for that type:
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// template specialization
#include <iostream>
using namespace std;

// class template:
template <class T>
class mycontainer {
T element;
public:
mycontainer (T arg) {element=arg;}
T increase () {return ++element;}
};

// class template specialization:
template <>
class mycontainer <char> {
char element;
public:
mycontainer (char arg) {element=arg;}
char uppercase ()
{
if ((element>='a')&&(element<='z'))
element+='A'-'a';
return element;
}
};

int main () {
mycontainer<int> myint (7);
mycontainer<char> mychar ('j');
cout << myint.increase() << endl;
cout << mychar.uppercase() << endl;
return 0;
}
8
J


This is the syntax used for the class template specialization:
template <> class mycontainer <char> { ... };


First of all, notice that we precede the class name with template<> , including an empty
parameter list. This is because all types are known and no template arguments are required for
this specialization, but still, it is the specialization of a class template, and thus it requires to be
noted as such.

But more important than this prefix, is the <char> specialization parameter after the class
template name. This specialization parameter itself identifies the type for which the template
class is being specialized (char). Notice the differences between the generic class template and
the specialization:
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template <class T> class mycontainer { ... };
template <> class mycontainer <char> { ... };


The first line is the generic template, and the second one is the specialization.

When we declare specializations for a template class, we must also define all its members, even
those identical to the generic template class, because there is no "inheritance" of members from
the generic template to the specialization.

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