When Should You Use Templates?

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Templates are often used to:

• Create a type-safe collection class (for example, a stack) that can operate on data of any type.
  
  
• Add extra type checking for functions that would otherwise take void pointers.
  
  
• Encapsulate groups of operator overrides to modify type behavior (such as smart pointers).

Most of these uses can be implemented without templates; however, templates offer several advantages:

• Templates are easier to write. You create only one generic version of your class or function instead of manually creating specializations.
  
  
• Templates can be easier to understand, since they can provide a straightforward way of abstracting type information.
  
  
• Templates are type-safe. Because the types that templates act upon are known at compile time, the compiler can perform type checking before errors occur.

What do you want to know more about?

• Templates vs. C/C++ macros
  
  
• Templates vs. void pointers
  
  
• Templates and collection classes
  
  
• Templates and smart pointers