Summary
In this chapter, the students were introduced to templates in C++. We saw that templates exist to create high-level abstractions that work independently from the types of the objects at zero overhead at runtime. We explained the concept of type requirements: the requirements a type must satisfy to work correctly with the templates. We then showed the students how to write function templates and class templates, mentioning dependent types as well, to give the students the tools to understand a class of errors that happen when writing template code.
We then showed how templates can work with non-type parameters, and how templates can be made easier to use by providing default template arguments, thanks to template argument deduction.
We then showed the students how to write more generic templates, thanks to the forwarding reference, std::forward, and the template parameter pack.
Finally, we concluded with some tools to make templates easier to read and more maintainable.
In the next chapter...
