Templates
A template is a pattern or mold used as a guide for making something. For example, you want to create an attractive and convincing resume. Ready-made templates from the web can serve as a guide in making the resume. Such templates also have the different sections that you are supposed to include while making the resume. In other cases, they might consist of the appropriate wordings. The use of templates is widespread. You can have a template website design and a template spreadsheet design. C++ has a feature known as templates that could strongly enable you to reduce the task involved in coding if you master how to create them. As templates homework help providers, we know that most of the students find this topic challenging. In an effort to help students, we have created this article, which will serve as an excellent introduction to C++ templates.
What are C++ templates?
As a programmer, you probably are aware of those cases where there is a single type of code that can be repeated for each task. Only it has to be adapted to suit the task such as changing the data type, it will appear automatically if you repeat typing the same code.
Templates can be a trick that could help you in creating a generic program where you only alter the data type. That is one function or class for all the data types. Templates are commonly applied to large codebases because of their flexibility and reusability. Take the case of a large company that needs to sort different data types. Rather than rewrite the code repeatedly when sorting is required, the company could do away with a template.
Types of templates in C++.
The templates in C++ can be grouped into two ways, function templates, and class templates.
Function templates.
What these templates do is create a function that adapts to the different data types. There is no difference in the normal function. In fact, the output is the same in both cases.
The difference is that this function can be applied to different data types. Traditionally, if we want to apply a function to different data types, we used function overloading. The difference was that the same task could be achieved using a template that is more efficient and uses fewer lines of code.
Class templates.
There are instances that you need more than one class for all the cases. Only the data type varies. Instead of creating a class for all the examples, you can use a template. If you repeat the code repeatedly, it might unnecessarily bloat the system and make it less readable. Templates will reduce the lines of code needed, make the code easily readable, and simplify the debugging process.
How do you create a template?
In this section, we look at how to create a template for both functions and classes. The process is quite similar in all cases.
To create a template, two keywords should be used in all cases. They are the 'template' keyword' and the 'type name' keyword, which can be replaced by the 'class' keyword in the case of a template class.
You should note that a template does not restrict you on the number of arguments that you can pass to it.
Difference between overloading and templates.
The two terms can be quite confusing. Both of them are from C++ polymorphism. Overloading is used when two or more functions do similar operations while the template is used when multiple functions can do identical operations.
What are the advantages of using templates?
The advantages of using templates in your coding are vast. Here is a couple of them.
1. Reduces The lines of code that you can use in cases when identical functions are applied.
2. With a few lines of code, you can easily debug the code because everything is simplified.
3. Reduces the code development time significantly because you can write a single algorithm that can be used multiple times.
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