Templates (6)

Question 1

What is a template?

Answer 1

A template permits the definition of a template function or template class to use multiple data types

Question 2

What is a function template?

Answer 2

A function template defines a specific behavior that can be applied to any data type
- Method overloading is used to provide function for each data type

Question 3

What does the definition of a function template (code) look like?

Answer 3

template 
void function(T param){}

Question 4

What is the difference between a function template and a template function?

Answer 4

Function template: entire range of related functions with single code segment
Template functions: individually compiled versions of the function template

Question 5

What is a class template?

Answer 5

Allows the program to contain a generic class definition that can be instantiated into a type specific object

Question 6

What does the definition of a class template (code) look like?

Answer 6

.h file:
template
class ClassName{
public:
private:
}

ClassName.cpp:
template
ClassName::ClassName(){}

main.cpp
ClassName objectName();

Question 7

What is the difference between a function template and a template function?

Answer 7

Class templates: entire range of related classes with a single class definition
Template classes: individual instantiated versions of the class template

Question 8

What is a specialization of a template?

Answer 8

Providing a template with a set of template arguments
Not instantiation –> can cause instantiation
Non specialized version still needed

Question 9

What does specialization of a template look like (code)?

Answer 9

template<>
int Stack::sum(){}
template
T Stack::sum() {}

Question 10

Why can class template errors slip by the compiler?

Answer 10

The compiler does not evaluate class templates. The compiler needs to know the data types in order to evaluate the methods –> methods that are unused are not evaluated