C++ Template Metaprogramming: Concepts, Tools, and Techniques from Boost and Beyond (C++ In-Depth Series)

Book Description
"C++ Template Metaprogramming" sheds light on the most powerful idioms of today's C++, at long last delivering practical metaprogramming tools and techniques into the hands of the everyday programmer.

Since the introduction of templates, C++ programmers have discovered surprising and powerful ways to perform computation at compile-time. While the excitement generated by these capabilities among C++ experts has reached the community at large, their practical application remains out-of-reach for many programmers. Literature on C++ template metaprogramming has focused primarily on details of low-level "tricks" at the expense of strong idioms and abstractions, and without illuminating the path from metaprogramming to expressive interfaces and efficient, maintainable software.

This book delivers both "big picture" ideas and practical tools. It explains what metaprogramming is, why it matters, and how the unique combination of features in C++ make it an especially powerful language for metaprogramming. It also presents the Boost Metaprogramming Library, a powerful open source framework of high-level compile-time components based on familiar STL idioms, which makes C++ metaprogramming easy, expressive, and fun.

From the Back Cover
Abrahams and Gurtovoy have written something close to a classic… marvelous fun to read…

Read the complete book review by Jack J. Woehr, Dr. Dobbs Journal, June 03, 2005


"If you're like me, you're excited by what people do with template metaprogramming (TMP) but are frustrated at the lack of clear guidance and powerful tools. Well, this is the book we've been waiting for. With help from the excellent Boost Metaprogramming Library, David and Aleksey take TMP from the laboratory to the workplace with readable prose and practical examples, showing that "compile-time STL" is as able as its runtime counterpart. Serving as a tutorial as well as a handbook for experts, this is the book on C++ template metaprogramming."
–Chuck Allison, Editor, The C++ Source

C++ Template Metaprogramming sheds light on the most powerful idioms of today's C++, at long last delivering practical metaprogramming tools and techniques into the hands of the everyday programmer.

A metaprogram is a program that generates or manipulates program code. Ever since generic programming was introduced to C++, programmers have discovered myriad "template tricks" for manipulating programs as they are compiled, effectively eliminating the barrier between program and metaprogram. While excitement among C++ experts about these capabilities has reached the community at large, their practical application remains out of reach for most programmers. This book explains what metaprogramming is and how it is best used. It provides the foundation you'll need to use the template metaprogramming effectively in your own work.

This book is aimed at any programmer who is comfortable with idioms of the Standard Template Library (STL). C++ power-users will gain a new insight into their existing work and a new fluency in the domain of metaprogramming. Intermediate-level programmers who have learned a few advanced template techniques will see where these tricks fit in the big picture and will gain the conceptual foundation to use them with discipline. Programmers who have caught the scent of metaprogramming, but for whom it is still mysterious, will finally gain a clear understanding of how, when, and why it works. All readers will leave with a new tool of unprecedented power at their disposal–the Boost Metaprogramming Library.

The companion CD-ROM contains all Boost C++ libraries, including the Boost Metaprogramming Library and its reference documentation, along with all of the book's sample code and extensive supplementary material.

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