Follow Techotopia on Twitter

On-line Guides
All Guides
eBook Store
iOS / Android
Linux for Beginners
Office Productivity
Linux Installation
Linux Security
Linux Utilities
Linux Virtualization
Linux Kernel
System/Network Admin
Programming
Scripting Languages
Development Tools
Web Development
GUI Toolkits/Desktop
Databases
Mail Systems
openSolaris
Eclipse Documentation
Techotopia.com
Virtuatopia.com
Answertopia.com

How To Guides
Virtualization
General System Admin
Linux Security
Linux Filesystems
Web Servers
Graphics & Desktop
PC Hardware
Windows
Problem Solutions
Privacy Policy

  




 

 

Thinking in C++ Vol 2 - Practical Programming
Prev Home Next

Template metaprogramming

In 1993 compilers were beginning to support simple template constructs so that users could define generic containers and functions. About the same time that the STL was being considered for adoption into Standard C++, clever and surprising examples such as the following were passed around among members of the C++ Standards Committee:[73]

//: C05:Factorial.cpp
// Compile-time computation using templates.
#include <iostream>
using namespace std;
 
template<int n> struct Factorial {
enum { val = Factorial<n-1>::val * n };
};
 
template<> struct Factorial<0> {
enum { val = 1 };
};
 
int main() {
cout << Factorial<12>::val << endl; // 479001600
} ///:~
 

That this program prints the correct value of 12! is not alarming. What is alarming is that the computation is complete before the program even runs!

When the compiler attempts to instantiate Factorial<12>, it finds it must also instantiate Factorial<11>, which requires Factorial<10>, and so on. Eventually the recursion ends with the specialization Factorial<1>, and the computation unwinds. Eventually, Factorial<12>::val is replaced by the integral constant 479001600, and compilation ends. Since all the computation is done by the compiler, the values involved must be compile-time constants, hence the use of enum. When the program runs, the only work left to do is print that constant followed by a newline. To convince yourself that a specialization of Factorial results in the correct compile-time value, you could use it as an array dimension, such as:

double nums[Factorial<5>::val];
assert(sizeof nums == sizeof(double)*120);
 
Thinking in C++ Vol 2 - Practical Programming
Prev Home Next

 
 
   Reproduced courtesy of Bruce Eckel, MindView, Inc. Design by Interspire