In this chapter, we discussed generic programming-related topics in C++. Starting by reviewing C macros and function overloading, we introduced the development motivations of C++ templates. Then, we presented the syntax of class and function templates with a fixed number of parameters, as well as their specializations and instantiations. Since C++11, variadic templates are accepted by the standard generic function and class templates. Based on this, we further classified the template parameters and arguments into three categories: non-type template parameters/arguments, type template parameters/arguments, and template template parameters/arguments.
We also learned about traits and template metaprogramming. As a byproduct of template specialization, traits classes can provide us with more information about types. With the help of type information, eventually, the optimizations...
