Native generics?

Is it possible to make a native* generics?

* generic that implemented at run-time.

Code:

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template<T> T add(T n1, T n2) {
  return n1 + n2;
}

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In C:

Code:

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void *add(void *n1, void *n2) {
  return *n1 + *n2; //This one will not work for sure
}

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Is it true that C++ templates is compiled-time generic?

However Delphi offered generic feature since Delphi 2009, and I thought Delphi 2009 executable is native code. But it seems it already changed into bytecode one >_< How disappointing...

Thanks in advance.

You could use a programming/scripting language with dynamic/manifest/duck typing.

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Is it possible to make a native* generics?

* generic that implemented at run-time.

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I am puzzled by your definition of "native".

Since C++ lacks a global single-root hierarchy, it's not possible to make Java-style F-bound generics that work across the entire type system. Another very important reason is the lack of a garbage collector or proper reflection. You need at least one of them to make this work nicely.

You can always write your own generics stuff, but ... it's rather ugly, generates far more code than it should, and requires so much user code that it's just not worth it. Especially when the gain is so small. (There is a very large area of overlap between C++-style templates and Java-style generics. If you implement generics in C++, you only gain the things that templates can't already do.)

Why would you want things that are generated at runtime rather than compile time? I'd rather spot errors when compiling rather than when running (which may or may not find the problem).

Quote:

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Originally Posted by cpjust

Why would you want things that are generated at runtime rather than compile time? I'd rather spot errors when compiling rather than when running (which may or may not find the problem).

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Smaller code of course. Yeah, smaller code means byte-code, means performance loss.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by cpjust

Why would you want things that are generated at runtime rather than compile time? I'd rather spot errors when compiling rather than when running (which may or may not find the problem).

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C++, being statically typed, doesn't really lend itself to code which wants types to be dynamic -- that's fine, C++ is the language that it is -- but that doesn't necessarily mean that dynamic typing is a bad idea.

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Originally Posted by brewbuck

C++, being statically typed, doesn't really lend itself to code which wants types to be dynamic -- that's fine, C++ is the language that it is -- but that doesn't necessarily mean that dynamic typing is a bad idea.

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It is fast to implement our design in dynamic languages somewhat, even it would slow down (the performance) a bit.