Book Image

Mastering the C++17 STL

By : Arthur O'Dwyer
Book Image

Mastering the C++17 STL

By: Arthur O'Dwyer

Overview of this book

Modern C++ has come a long way since 2011. The latest update, C++17, has just been ratified and several implementations are on the way. This book is your guide to the C++ standard library, including the very latest C++17 features. The book starts by exploring the C++ Standard Template Library in depth. You will learn the key differences between classical polymorphism and generic programming, the foundation of the STL. You will also learn how to use the various algorithms and containers in the STL to suit your programming needs. The next module delves into the tools of modern C++. Here you will learn about algebraic types such as std::optional, vocabulary types such as std::function, smart pointers, and synchronization primitives such as std::atomic and std::mutex. In the final module, you will learn about C++'s support for regular expressions and file I/O. By the end of the book you will be proficient in using the C++17 standard library to implement real programs, and you'll have gained a solid understanding of the library's own internals.
Table of Contents (13 chapters)

Again with the type erasure: std::function

We observed that for std::any, the salient operations were as follows:

  • Constructing a copy of the contained object
  • Constructing a copy of the contained object "by move"
  • Getting the typeid of the contained object

Suppose we were to add one to this set of salient operations? Let's say our set is:

  • Constructing a copy of the contained object
  • Constructing a copy of the contained object "by move"
  • Getting the typeid of the contained object
  • Calling the contained object with a particular fixed sequence of argument types A..., and converting the result to some particular fixed type R

The type-erasure of this set of operations corresponds to the standard library type std::function<R(A...)>!

    int my_abs(int x) { return x < 0 ? -x : x; }
long unusual(long x, int y = 3) { return x + y; }

void test()
...