Templates in C++

What are Templates:

Templates in C++  are the foundation of generic programming, which involves writing code in a way that is independent of any particular type.
C++ uses Standard Template Library (STL) for templates.

A template is a blueprint or formula for creating a generic class or a function. The library containers like iterators and algorithms are examples of generic programming and have been developed using template concept.

There is a single definition of each container, such as vector, but we can define many different kinds of vectors for example, vector <int> or vector <string>.

You can use templates to define functions as well as classes, let us see how do they work:

Function Template:

Prototype for function template is:

template <class type> ret-type func-name(parameter list)
{
 // body of function
}

Here, type is a placeholder name for a data type used by the function. This name can be used within the function definition.

 
The following is the example of a function template that returns the maximum of two values:
#include <iostream>
#include <string>

using namespace std;

template <typename T>
inline T const& Max (T const& a, T const& b)
{
    return a < b ? b:a;
}
int main ()
{

    int i = 39;
    int j = 20;
    cout << "Max(i, j): " << Max(i, j) << endl;

    double f1 = 13.5;
    double f2 = 20.7;
    cout << "Max(f1, f2): " << Max(f1, f2) << endl;

    string s1 = "Hello";
    string s2 = "World";
    cout << "Max(s1, s2): " << Max(s1, s2) << endl;

   return 0;
}

 

Output:

Max(i, j): 39
Max(f1, f2): 20.7
Max(s1, s2): World

 

Class Template:

Prototype for Class template:

template <class type> class class-name {
.
.
.
}

Here, type is the placeholder type name, which will be specified when a class is instantiated. You can define more than one generic data type by using a comma-separated list.

Following is the example to define class Stack<> and implement generic methods to push and pop the elements from the stack:

#include <iostream>
#include <vector>
#include <cstdlib>
#include <string>
#include <stdexcept>

using namespace std;

template <class T>
class Stack {
  private:
    vector<T> elems;     // elements

  public:
    void push(T const&);  // push element
    void pop();               // pop element
    T top() const;            // return top element
    bool empty() const{       // return true if empty.
        return elems.empty();
    }
};

template <class T>
void Stack<T>::push (T const& elem)
{
    // append copy of passed element
    elems.push_back(elem);
}

template <class T>
void Stack<T>::pop ()
{
    if (elems.empty()) {
        throw out_of_range("Stack<>::pop(): empty stack");
    }
 // remove last element
    elems.pop_back();
}

template <class T>
T Stack<T>::top () const
{
    if (elems.empty()) {
        throw out_of_range("Stack<>::top(): empty stack");
    }
 // return copy of last element
    return elems.back();
}

int main()
{
    try {
        Stack<int>         intStack;  // stack of ints
        Stack<string> stringStack;    // stack of strings

        // manipulate int stack
        intStack.push(7);
        cout << intStack.top() <<endl;

        // manipulate string stack
        stringStack.push("hello");
        cout << stringStack.top() << std::endl;
        stringStack.pop();
        stringStack.pop();
    }
    catch (exception const& ex) {
        cerr << "Exception: " << ex.what() <<endl;
        return -1;
    }
}

 

OUTPUT:

7
hello
Exception: Stack<>::pop(): empty stack

 

Read here for Standard Template Library (STL) .

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