Thread: How do you decide whether to use templates or overloaded function

  1. #1
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    How do you decide whether to use templates or overloaded function

    Folks,

    Could anyone help me understand how do you decide whether to use templates or overloaded function? I was asked this question in an interview and couldn't answer. This is the scenario:

    Given an algorithm, how do you decide whether to use a template method or overloaded function?

    Thanks for your insights!

  2. #2
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    Someone may give a better explanation but I would say that, using a template would mean you only have to implement the function once rather than many times for different types in the case of overloaded functions.

  3. #3
    and the hat of sweating
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    I'd say, if the new functions take exactly the same number of parameters and do exactly the same things inside the function (other than using different data types), then you should use a template function. Otherwise you'll be copying & pasting functions and only changing data types.

  4. #4
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    Technically, a template function is a means of creating a set of overloaded functions.

    As a rule of thumb, I will employ template functions if I need an overloaded function that works for many argument types and, if I was to implement every possible version of that function by hand, the body for most of those versions would be essentially the same.

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