Although C++ templates are a
general-purpose programming tool, when they were introduced in the language,
they seemed to discourage the use of object-based container-class hierarchies
(demonstrated at the end of Chapter 15). For example, the Standard C++
containers and algorithms (explained in two chapters of Volume 2 of this book,
downloadable from www.BruceEckel.com) are built exclusively with
templates and are relatively easy for the programmer to use.
This chapter not only demonstrates the
basics of templates, it is also an introduction to containers, which are
fundamental components of object-oriented programming and are almost completely
realized through the containers in the Standard C++ Library. You’ll see
that this book has been using container examples – the Stash and
Stack – throughout, precisely to get you comfortable with
containers; in this chapter the concept of the iterator will also be
added. Although containers are ideal examples for use with templates, in Volume
2 (which has an advanced templates chapter) you’ll learn that there are
many other uses for templates as
well.
