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Templates: Code Sharing (Genericity)

1. Templates in C++ allow for code sharing through generic functions and classes that can accept parameters of different types. 2. This reduces typing effort and increases productivity while also reducing program size. 3. Templates use runtime polymorphism to bind data to its types by substituting a generic type for the actual type passed. 4. A template can have more than one generic parameter.

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38 views9 pages

Templates: Code Sharing (Genericity)

1. Templates in C++ allow for code sharing through generic functions and classes that can accept parameters of different types. 2. This reduces typing effort and increases productivity while also reducing program size. 3. Templates use runtime polymorphism to bind data to its types by substituting a generic type for the actual type passed. 4. A template can have more than one generic parameter.

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killer crewmate
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Templates: code sharing

(Genericity)
INTRODUCTION TO CODE SHARING
There are many programming situations where
same set of operations are applied on different data
types.

For example, the following function exchanges the


contents of two parameters of type int.

void exchange ( int & oldVal , int & newVal)


{
int temp;

temp = oldVal;
oldVal = newVal;
newVal = temp;
}
Code-sharing is implemented in C++ through
templates.

• The pertinent question arises that “Can’t we write


a generic function that can accept all types of
parameters?”.
• If yes, then a tremendous amount of typing effort
can be saved. This will not only increase the
productivity of the programmer but also reduce
the size of the program.
• However the programmer must demarcate the
program code into two categories: type dependent
and type independent code.
TEMPLATES
A template in C++ is used to create generic functions
and classes.
The format of template declaration is given below:
template < class ugType >

1. where template: is a keyword


2. < : is the standard left angled bracket or sign for less
than operator
3. class : is a keyword
4. ugType : user defined generic type
5. > : is the standard right angled bracket or sign for
greater than operator
template <class myType> // declare a function template

void exchange ( myType & oldVal , myType & newVal)


{
myType temp;

temp = oldVal;
oldVal = newVal;
newVal = temp;
}
1. We have used a generic type called ‘myType’ to declare
the variables in the generic function ‘exchange’.
2. This generic type (myType) would get substituted at run
time by whichever type of data is employed by the
programmer.
3. Thus, templates use run time polymorphism to bind the
data with their types.
GENERIC CLASSES
Similar to functions, we can also create
generic classes in the form of class
templates.

The format of a class template is given below:


where
template: is a keyword
< : is the standard left angled bracket or sign for less than
operator
class : is a keyword
ugType : user defined generic type
> : is the standard right angled bracket or sign for greater
than operator

The template declaration followed by class


declaration is jointly called as a class
template.
TEMPLATES WITH MORE THAN ONE
GENERIC PARAMETER
A template can have more than one generic
parameter as shown by the following
declaration:
template <class genType1, class genType2>

1. The above template declaration is using two generic types:


genType1 and genType2.
2. The advantage of this feature of C++ is that a function
template or class template can be called for more number of
generic parameters.
SUMMARY
1. A generic function and class can accept parameters of
different types.
2. It allows code sharing with a view to reduce typing
effort, increase productivity, and reduce the size of the
program.
3. The code of a program can be comfortably divided into
two parts: type dependent and type independent.
4. The ‘generic type’ gets substituted at runtime by the
type of data supplied to the generic function or class.
5. A template declaration followed by a class declaration
is jointly called a ‘class template’.
6. The name of class juxtaposed with a type in angled
brackets is called a ‘template class’.
7. A template can have more than one generic parameter.

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