C++ Templates: The Complete Guide, 2nd Edition

Templates are among the most powerful features of C++, but they remain misunderstood and underutilized, even as the C++ language and development community have advanced. In C++ Templates, Second Edition, three pioneering C++ experts show why, when, and how to use modern templates to build software that’s cleaner, faster, more efficient, and easier to maintain.

Now extensively updated for the C++11, C++14, and C++17 standards, this new edition presents state-of-the-art techniques for a wider spectrum of applications. The authors provide authoritative explanations of all new language features that either improve templates or interact with them, including variadic templates, generic lambdas, class template argument deduction, compile-time if, forwarding references, and user-defined literals. They also deeply delve into fundamental language concepts (like value categories) and fully cover all standard type traits.

The book starts with an insightful tutorial on basic concepts and relevant language features. The remainder of the book serves as a comprehensive reference, focusing first on language details and then on coding techniques, advanced applications, and sophisticated idioms. Throughout, examples clearly illustrate abstract concepts and demonstrate best practices for exploiting all that C++ templates can do.

• Understand exactly how templates behave, and avoid common pitfalls
• Use templates to write more efficient, flexible, and maintainable software
• Master today’s most effective idioms and techniques
• Reuse source code without compromising performance or safety
• Benefit from utilities for generic programming in the C++ Standard Library
• Preview the upcoming concepts feature

The companion website, tmplbook.com, contains sample code and additional updates.

Table of Contents

Part I: The Basics
Chapter 1 Function Templates
Chapter 2 Class Templates
Chapter 3 Nontype Template Parameters
Chapter 4 Variadic Templates
Chapter 5 Tricky Basics
Chapter 6 Move Semantics And Enable_If<>
Chapter 7 By Value Or By Reference?
Chapter 8 Compile-Time Programming
Chapter 9 Using Templates In Practice
Chapter 10 Basic Template Terminology
Chapter 11 Generic Libraries

Part II: Templates in Depth
Chapter 12 Fundamentals In Depth
Chapter 13 Names In Templates
Chapter 14 Instantiation
Chapter 15 Template Argument Deduction
Chapter 16 Specialization And Overloading
Chapter 17 Future Directions

Part III: Templates and Design
Chapter 18 The Polymorphic Power Of Templates
Chapter 19 Implementing Traits
Chapter 20 Overloading On Type Properties
Chapter 21 Templates And Inheritance
Chapter 22 Bridging Static And Dynamic Polymorphism
Chapter 23 Metaprogramming
Chapter 24 Typelists
Chapter 25 Tuples
Chapter 26 Discriminated Unions
Chapter 27 Expression Templates
Chapter 28 Debugging Templates

Appendix A The One-Definition Rule
Appendix B Value Categories
Appendix C Overload Resolution
Appendix D Standard Type Utilities
Appendix E Concepts