Generic Programming
Templates in C++ help implement generic programming in C++.
The Swap function from the previous tutorial is powerful enough to support any other data type that
needs to be swapped. In the code below, Swap can be used as-is to swap two integers.
#include <iostream>
using namespace std;
template<typename T>
void Swap(T &a, T&b)
{
T temp = a;
a = b;
b = temp;
}
int main()
{
string hello = "world!", world = "Hello, ";
Swap(world, hello);
cout << hello << world << endl;
int a = 5, b = 11;
Swap(a, b);
cout << "a:" << a << " b:" << b << endl;
return 0;
}
Templates, Classes and Operator Overloading
Exercise
The Swap function will also work with user-defined data types. To demonstrate this, implement a C++ class Point which has coordinates x and y. Create two objects of the type Point and swap them. Operator overloading for the operator = also has to be implemented.
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