SAS/C C++ Development System User's Guide, Release 6.50

Introduction

In C++, it is common for the same abstract data structure to be applied to different data types. For example, you could have a stack of integers, characters, or pointers. Rather than create a new stack class for each type, a template allows you to write generic type-independent code. A C++ template defines a family of types or functions by creating a parameterized type. Parameterized types can be used wherever actual types can be used. However, the template itself is not a type.

Templates are part of the evolving C++ language. The framework of the C++ language was created primarily by Bjarne Stroustrup. His book, The C++ Programming Language, 2nd Edition, provides good basic reference information but has limited coverage of templates.

Committee X3J16 has been working on an official standard for C++ for several years. During this time, the committee has standardized the existing features and added new features. Different implementations of the C++ language support different sets of features, exhibit different limitations, or exhibit different behavior in parts of the language that were not previously well defined.

Release 6.50 of the SAS/C C++ Development System supports templates as described in Stroustrup's book The C++ Programming Language, Second Edition, but implements clarifications to the specification introduced by the ANSI draft C++ standard, as well as a few language extensions. This appendix explains and clarifies the implementation of templates as provided by Release 6.50 of the SAS/C C++ Development System. The descriptions assume that you are already familiar with C++ templates.

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