![\"maki](\"https:\/\/www.modernescpp.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/maki-3295891_1280.jpg\")
<\/p>\nToday, I write about the few remaining rules to templates. Because a collective name is missing, they put the heterogeneous rules to templates in the section other. The rules are about best practices but also about surprises. <\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n
Here are the rules for this post.<\/p>\n
The first rule is about best practices.<\/p>\n
Honestly, I’m not so sure why this rule belongs to templates. Maybe templates are about reuse, or the example in the guidelines uses the std::find_if<\/span> algorithm of the Standard Template Library. Anyway, the rule is fundamental from the code quality perspective.<\/p>\n Imagine you have a vector of records. Each record consists of a name, an address, and an id. You often want to find a record with a specific name; but to make it more challenging, you ignore the case sensitivity of the names.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n The struct Rec<\/span> (line 1) has only public members; therefore, I can use aggregate initialization<\/a> and initialize all members directly in line (2). In line (3), I use a lambda function to search for the ” smith ” record.<\/span> First, I check if both names have the same size and second if the characters are identical when compared to case-insensitive. <\/p>\n What’s the problem with the code? The requirement of the case-insensitive comparison of strings is too common, and we should put the solution in an object, give it a name and reuse it.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The function compare_insensitive<\/span> (line 1) gives a general concept a name. Now, I can use it for a vector of strings (line 2).<\/p>\n<\/p>\n I often discuss this in my classes: When should I use a function (function object) or a lambda function? Honestly, I have no easy answer. Here, two meta-rules of code quality contradict:<\/p>\n Sorry, I borrowed the second point from Python. But what does that mean? Imagine you have an old-fashioned Fortran programmer in your team, and he says to you: “Each name must have three characters.” So, you end with the following code.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n What does the name igh<\/span> stand for? igh stands for a id greater hundred. Now, you are forced to document the usage of the predicate.<\/p>\n But If you use a lambda function, the code documents itself.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n I had discussions with Fortran programmers about names. Admittedly, more arguments, such as code locality versus code size, speak for or against lambda functions, but “Don’t repeat yourself” versus “Explicit is better than implicit” are my key arguments.<\/p>\n A short example says more than a long explanation. In the following example, I iterate through a std::vector<\/span>, a std::deque<\/span>, and a std::list<\/span>.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The code looks innocent, but the compilation breaks when I want to compile the program. I get about 100 lines of error messages.<\/p>\n At the beginning of the error message, you see it is quite precise: “notGeneric.cpp:10:37: error: no match for ‘operator<‘ (operand types are ‘std::_List_const_iterator<\/span>“.<\/p>\n What is the issue? The issue is in line (1). The iterator comparison (<) works for the std::vector<\/span> (line 2) and the std::deque<\/span> (line 3) but breaks for the std::list<\/span> (line 4). Each container returns an iterator representing its structure. This is in the case of a std::vector<\/span> and a std::deque<\/span>, a random access iterator, and in the case of the std::list<\/span>, a bidirectional iterator. A look at the iterator categories helps a lot.<\/p>\n The random access iterator category is a superset of the bidirectional iterator category, and the bidirectional iterator category is a superset of the forward iterator category. Now, the issue is obvious. An iterator given by a list does not support the smaller comparison. Fixing the bug is relatively easy. Iterators of each iterator category support the != comparison. Here is the fixed justIterate<\/span> function template.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n\n\/\/ records.cpp<\/span>\r\n\r\n#include <algorithm><\/span>\r\n#include <cctype><\/span>\r\n#include <iostream><\/span>\r\n#include <string><\/span>\r\n#include <vector><\/span>\r\n\r\nstruct<\/span> Rec { \/\/ (1)<\/span>\r\n std::<\/span>string name;\r\n std::<\/span>string addr;\r\n int<\/span> id; \r\n};\r\n\r\nint<\/span> main<\/span>(){\r\n \r\n std::<\/span>cout <<<\/span> std::<\/span>endl;\r\n \r\n std::<\/span>vector<<\/span>Rec><\/span> vr{ {\"Grimm\"<\/span>, \"Munich\"<\/span>, 1<\/span>}, \/\/ (2)<\/span>\r\n {\"huber\"<\/span>, \"Stuttgart\"<\/span>, 2<\/span>},\r\n {\"Smith\"<\/span>, \"Rottenburg\"<\/span>, 3<\/span>},\r\n {\"black\"<\/span>, \"Hanover\"<\/span>, 4<\/span>} };\r\n \r\n std::<\/span>string name =<\/span> \"smith\"<\/span>;\r\n \r\n auto<\/span> rec =<\/span> std::<\/span>find_if(vr.begin(), vr.end(), [&<\/span>](Rec&<\/span> r) { \/\/ (3)<\/span>\r\n if<\/span> (r.name.size() !=<\/span> name.size()) return<\/span> false<\/span>; \r\n for<\/span> (int<\/span> i =<\/span> 0<\/span>; i <<\/span> r.name.size(); ++<\/span>i){ \r\n if<\/span> (std::<\/span>tolower(r.name[i]) !=<\/span> std::<\/span>tolower(name[i])) return<\/span> false<\/span>;\r\n }\r\n return<\/span> true<\/span>; \r\n });\r\n \r\n if<\/span> (rec !=<\/span> vr.end()){\r\n std::<\/span>cout <<<\/span> rec-><\/span>name <<<\/span> \", \"<\/span> <<<\/span> rec-><\/span>addr <<<\/span> \", \"<\/span> <<<\/span> rec-><\/span>id <<<\/span> std::<\/span>endl;\r\n }\r\n \r\n std::<\/span>cout <<<\/span> std::<\/span>endl;\r\n \r\n}\r\n<\/pre>\n<\/div>\n![\"records\"](\"https:\/\/www.modernescpp.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/records.png\")
<\/p>\n\nbool<\/span> compare_insensitive<\/span>(const<\/span> std::<\/span>string&<\/span> a, const<\/span> std::<\/span>string&<\/span> b) \/\/ (1)<\/span>\r\n{\r\n if<\/span> (a.size() !=<\/span> b.size()) return<\/span> false<\/span>;\r\n for<\/span> (int<\/span> i =<\/span> 0<\/span>; i <<\/span> a.size(); ++<\/span>i){\r\n if<\/span> (std::<\/span>tolower(a[i]) !=<\/span> std::<\/span>tolower(b[i])) return<\/span> false<\/span>;\r\n }\r\n return<\/span> true<\/span>;\r\n}\r\n\r\nstd::<\/span>string name =<\/span> \"smith\"<\/span>;\r\n\r\nauto<\/span> res =<\/span> std::<\/span>find_if(vr.begin(), vr.end(), \r\n [&<\/span>](Rec&<\/span> r) { compare_insensitive(r.name, name); }\r\n);\r\n\r\nstd::<\/span>vector<<\/span>std::<\/span>string><\/span> vs{\"Grimm\"<\/span>, \"huber\"<\/span>, \"Smith\"<\/span>, \"black\"<\/span>}; \/\/ (2)<\/span>\r\n\r\nauto<\/span> res2 =<\/span> std::<\/span>find_if(vs.begin(), vs.end(),\r\n [&<\/span>](std::<\/span>string&<\/span> r) { compare_insensitive(r, name); }\r\n);\r\n<\/pre>\n<\/div>\nT.141: Use an unnamed lambda if you need a simple function object in one place only<\/a><\/h2>\n
\n
\nauto<\/span> eUE =<\/span> std::<\/span>remove_if(use.begin(), use.end(), igh); \r\n<\/pre>\n<\/div>\n\nauto<\/span> earlyUsersEnd =<\/span> std::<\/span>remove_if(users.begin(), users.end(),\r\n [](const<\/span> User &user<\/span>) { return<\/span> user.id ><\/span> 100<\/span>; }); \r\n<\/pre>\n<\/div>\nT.143: Don\u2019t write unintentionally nongeneric code<\/a><\/h2>\n
\n\/\/ notGeneric.cpp<\/span>\r\n\r\n#include <deque><\/span>\r\n#include <list><\/span>\r\n#include <vector><\/span>\r\n\r\ntemplate<\/span> <<\/span>typename<\/span> Cont><\/span>\r\nvoid<\/span> justIterate(const<\/span> Cont&<\/span> cont){\r\n const<\/span> auto<\/span> itEnd =<\/span> cont.end();\r\n for<\/span> (auto<\/span> it =<\/span> cont.begin(); it <<\/span> itEnd; ++<\/span>it) { \/\/ (1)<\/span>\r\n \/\/ do something<\/span>\r\n }\r\n}\r\n \r\nint<\/span> main(){\r\n \r\n std::<\/span>vector<<\/span>int<\/span>><\/span> vecInt{1<\/span>, 2<\/span>, 3<\/span>, 4<\/span>, 5<\/span>};\r\n justIterate(vecInt); \/\/ (2)<\/span>\r\n \r\n std::<\/span>deque<<\/span>int<\/span>><\/span> deqInt{1<\/span>, 2<\/span>, 3<\/span>, 4<\/span>, 5<\/span>};\r\n justIterate(deqInt); \/\/ (3)<\/span>\r\n \r\n std::<\/span>list<<\/span>int<\/span>><\/span> listInt{1<\/span>, 2<\/span>, 3<\/span>, 4<\/span>, 5<\/span>};\r\n justIterate(listInt); \/\/ (4)<\/span>\r\n \r\n} \r\n<\/pre>\n<\/div>\n![\"notGeneric\"](\"https:\/\/www.modernescpp.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/notGeneric.png\")
<\/p>\n![\"IteratorCategories\"](\"https:\/\/www.modernescpp.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/IteratorCategories.png\")
<\/p>\n\ntemplate<\/span> <<\/span>typename<\/span> Cont><\/span>\r\nvoid<\/span> justIterate(const<\/span> Cont&<\/span> cont){\r\n const<\/span> auto<\/span> itEnd