template specialization and instantiation

The process of creating a regular class, function, or member function from a template by substituting actual values for its arguments is called template instantiation. This resulting entity (class, function, or member function) is generically called a specialization.

However, in C++ the instantiation process is not the only way to produce a specialization. Alternative mechanisms allow the programmer to specify explicitly a declaration that is tied to a special substitution of template parameters. Such a specialization is introduced by template<>:

template <typename T1, typename T2> // primary class template class MyClass { … }; template<> // explicit specialization class MyClass<std::string,float> { … };

Strictly speaking, this is called a so-called explicit specialization (as opposed to an instantiated or generated specialization).

Specializations that still have template parameters are called partial specializations:

template <typename T> // partial specialization class MyClass<T,T> { … }; template <typename T> // partial specialization class MyClass<bool,T> { … };

When talking about (explicit or partial) specializations, the general template is also called the primary template.

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See Also:
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• Complete Tutorial of C++ Template's
• Standard Template Library Tutorial
• Inter Process Communication Tutorial
• Advance Programming in C & C++

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