Re: When to use CRTP ?

From:

"Alf P. Steinbach" <alfps@start.no>

Newsgroups:

comp.lang.c++

Date:

Thu, 15 Oct 2009 19:03:34 +0200

Message-ID:

<hb7kl9$3nn$1@news.eternal-september.org>

* mathieu:

Hi there,

  I am reading the following post:

http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.c++/browse_thread/thread/2805ab0a765aa0ad

  And I do not understand the following:

...
- static polymorphism which allows the inheritance or cooperation of
traits and useful specialization under metaprogramming (factorizing
operations by example).
...

  So as in the original post, I do not understand what is the added
value of CRTP. Could someone please provide an example where
inheritance of traits clearly requires CRTP, thanks !

I've got a headache so I'm not going to look up the original thread.

But here's an example of CRTP in action, off the cuff (may have syntax erors):

   #include <iostream>

   using namespace std;

   template< class WorkerKind >
   struct Worker
   {
       void sayHello() const
       {
           WorkerKind const& self = *static_cast<WorkerKind const*>( this );
           cout << "Hello, I'm a " << self.kind() << "!" << endl;
       }
   };

   struct Electrician: Worker<Electrician>
   {
       char const* kind() const { return "electrician"; }
   };

   struct Plumber: Worker<Plumber>
   {
       char const* kind() const { return "plumber"; }
   }

   int main()
   {
       Plumber().sayHello();
       Electrician().sayHello();
   }

Oh well it's not inheritance of "traits", didn't see that.

Cheers & hth.,

- Alf