Class Templates

The relationship between a class template and an individual class is like the relationship between a class and an individual object. An individual class defines how a group of objects can be constructed, while a class template defines how a group of classes can be generated.

Note the distinction between the terms class template and template class:

 

A template definition is identical to any valid class definition that the template might generate, except for the following:

• The class template definition is preceded by template < template-argument-list > where template-argument-list can include zero or more arguments of user-defined type and zero or more argument declarations. The template-argument-list must contain at least one argument.
• Types, variables, constants and objects within the class template can be declared with arguments of user-defined type a s well as with explicit types (for example, int or char).
• The template-argument-list can include argument-declarations (for example, int a or char* b), which are g enerally used to define constant values within the created class.

A class template can declare a class without defining it by using an elaborated type specifier. For example:

template  <class L,class T> class key;

This reserves the name as a class template name. All template declarations for a class template must have the same types and number of template arguments. Only one template declaration containing the class definition is allowed. You can instantiate the class template by declaring a template class. If the definitions of the member functions of the template class are not inlined, then you have to define them. When you instantiate a template class, its argument list must match the argument list in the class template declaration.

Note: When you have nested template argument lists, you must have a separating space between the > at the end of the inner list and the one at the end of the outer list. Otherwise, there is an ambiguity between the output operator >> and two template list delimiters >.

template  <class L,class T> class key
{
// ...
};
template <class L> class vector
{
// ...
};

void main ()
{
class key <int, vector<int> >; // instantiate template
}

Objects and functions of individual template classes can be accessed by any of the techniques used to access ordinary class member objects and functions.

Structuring Your Program Using Templates

Examples of Accessing Class Template Members

Class Template Declarations and Definitions
Nontype Template Arguments
Explicitly Defined Template Classes
Function Templates
Template Syntax
Inlined
Differences between Class and Function Templates
Syntax of a Template Class Instantiation