Re:C Template Library
by dragontamer on Wednesday December 30, 2020 @05:39PM
(#25587095)
> Well, nothing I suppose, except BaseClass cannot then be a template
template <class T>
void myFunc(List<T*>){
static_assert(stuff about T that you want to guarantee at compile time);
}
For a list of common functions used for compile-time type checking.
Well, nothing I suppose, except BaseClass cannot then be a template, and you cannot have derived class-specific return types like a template would allow.
So, having BaseClassInt type return int from some function but BaseClassLong return a long gets more challenging than it should be. (I recognize all my examples so far had a void return type, that was just for simplicity).
> But both BaseClass * and DerivedClass * are compatible with each other, and may convert into each other, as long as you know the pointer goes to the right kind of class)
Which loses type safety, unfortunately.
> In this case, we've created a static_assert (aka: a compile-time error will pop up) if T does not convert into BaseClass
I'll look into the static_assert() option, could prove useful in some cases.
At the end of the day, there are two things at play here - my lack of C++ familiarity, and in some cases it's just how C++ is.
It is a strange feeling though, having a language limit your expressiveness for the first time...