Partial template specialization is one of the most important concepts for generic programming in C++. For example: to implement a generic swap function:
template <typename T>
void swap(T &x, T &y) {
const T tmp = x;
y = x;
x = tmp;
}
To specialize it for a vector to support O(1) swap:
template <typename T, class Alloc>
void swap(vector<T, Alloc> &x, vector<T, Alloc> &y) { x.swap(y); }
So you can always get optimal performance when you call swap(x, y) in a generic function;
Much appreciated, if you can post the equivalent (or the canonical example of partial specialization of the language if the language doesn't support the swap concept) in alternative languages.
EDIT: so it looks like many people who answered/commented really don't known what partial specialization is, and that the generic swap example seems to get in the way of understanding by some people. A more general example would be:
template <typename T>
void foo(T x) { generic_foo(x); }
A partial specialization would be:
template <typename T>
void foo(vector<T> x) { partially_specialized_algo_for_vector(x); }
A complete specialization would be:
void foo(vector<bool> bitmap) { special_algo_for_bitmap(bitmap); }
Why this is important? because you can call foo(anything) in a generic function:
template <typename T>
void bar(T x) {
// stuff...
foo(x);
// more stuff...
}
and get the most appropriate implementation at compile time. This is one way for C++ to achieve abstraction w/ minimal performance penalty.
Hope it helps clearing up the concept of "partial specialization". In a way, this is how C++ do type pattern matching without needing the explicit pattern matching syntax (say the matc