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Template
Last Updated: December 19, 2011
Definition - What does Template mean?
A template is a C++ programming feature that permits function and class operations with generic types, which allows functionality with different data types without rewriting entire code blocks for each type.
Templates are a valuable utility in C++, especially when used with operator overloading and multiple inheritance. Templates reduce the effort associated with coding different data types to a single set of code and reduce debugging efforts.
Techopedia explains Template
C++ provides the following two types of templates used to implement general constructs, such as lists, queues, vectors and stacks:
- Class template: Resembles a regular class definition but is prefixed by the following: template <class typename="" identifier="">, followed by the class body declaration, including member data and functions. Class template member function declarations and definitions are in the same header file. C++ class templates are best suited to container classes.
- Function template: Implemented through template parameters, which is a special parameter type used to pass a type as a function argument. Thus, functionality may be adapted to more than one type or class without repeating the entire code. The format to declare a function template with a type parameter is either template <class identifier> function_declaration or template <typename identifier> function_declaration. There is no difference between the class and typename keywords.
Template-generated code may be overriden by providing special definitions for specific types, which is known as template specialization. A special version of a function for a given set of template arguments is known as explicit specialization. A class template specialized by a subset of its parameters is known as a partial template specialization. Full specialization occurs f every parameter is specialized.
