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Generic Programming,
a programming paradigm to write efficient, reusable code and software libraries, to operate on any data type, required being passed as a parameter, in C++ a compile time type parameter. Generic programming, first implemented in the Ada programming language, was pioneered by Alexander Stepanov ¹, David Musser and Deepak Kapur, and obtained success in C++ when the Standard Template Library became ANSI/ISO C++ standard ². Generic programming invokes a metaprogramming facility within a language, in those languages supporting it. In C++, template paramater are either types or integer constants for the wider range of Template- or metaprogramming. For instance in computer chess programming, it allows to write color dependent routines once, and disband otherwise conditional code at compile-time.

Selected Publications

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1980

• Deepak Kapur, David Musser, Alexander Stepanov (1981). Operators and Algebraic Structures. pdf
• Deepak Kapur, David Musser, Alexander Stepanov (1981). TECTON: A Language for Manipulating Generic Objects. in LNCS 134, Springer, pdf
• David Musser, Alexander Stepanov (1988). Generic Programming. ISSAC 1988, pdf

1990 ...

• Alexander Stepanov (1991). Design of Generic Libraries. Lecture given at SRI, pdf
• Andrew Koenig (1994). Templates and Generic Algorithms. JOOP 7 No. 3
• Andrew Koenig (1994). Generic Iterators. JOOP 7, No. 5
• Alexander Stepanov, Meng Lee (1995). The Standard Template Library. HP Laboratories Technical Report 95-11, pdf
• James C. Dehnert, Alexander Stepanov (1998). Fundamentals of Generic Programming. LNCS 1766, Springer, pdf
• Matthew H. Austern (1999). Generic Programming and the STL: Using and Extending the C++ Standard Template Library. Addison-Wesley

2000 ...

• P.J. Plauger, Meng Lee, David Musser, Alexander Stepanov (2000). C++ Standard Template Library. Prentice Hall
• Andrei Alexandrescu (2001). Modern C++ Design: Generic Programming and Design Patterns Applied.

2010 ...

• Stephanie Weirich (2010). Generic Programming With Dependent Types. Spring School on Generic and Indexed Programming, Wadham College, Oxford
• Alexander Stepanov, Daniel E. Rose (2015). From Mathematics to Generic Programming. Addison-Wesley

Forum Posts

• C++ templates question by José C. Martínez Galán, CCC, January 18, 2012
• C++ auto-expanding vector class template by Steven Edwards, CCC, August 15, 2015

External Links

• Generic programming from Wikipedia
• Generic from Wikipedia
• Generic Programming by David Musser
• Generic function from Wikipedia
• Metaprogramming from Wikipedia
• Multiple inheritance from Wikipedia
• Operator overloading from Wikipedia
• Polymorphism from Wikipedia

C++

• Template (programming) from Wikipedia
• List of C++ template libraries from Wikipeadia
• Standard Template Library from Wikipedia
• Loki (C++) from Wikipedia by Andrei Alexandrescu as part of his book Modern C++ Design.
• Boost (C++ libraries) from Wikipedia
• Templates - C++ Documentation
• Metaprogramming in C++
• C++ Programming/Templates from Wikibooks
• Template Meta-Programming from Wikibooks
• Barton–Nackman trick from Wikipedia
• Curiously recurring template pattern from Wikipedia
• Variadic template from Wikipedia

C#

• Generics (C# Programming Guide), MSDN

Java

• Generics in Java from Wikipedia

Delphi

• Dr.Bob Examines - Delphi 2009 Generics

References