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Templates in C++ are basically macros and can do a lot more as a result (and that comes with the usual costs, such as your code size potentially blowing up, get

Templates in C++ are basically macros and can do a lot more as a result (and that comes with the usual costs, such as your code size potentially blowing up, getting in the way of separate compilation, and the problems with enforcing constraints on parameters; concepts have yet to make it into the language). It's totally different from languages where parametric polymorphism is part of the type system proper.

milesrout 10y ago
Templates in C++ are not 'basically macros' in the C++ sense.
- rbehrends 10y ago
  I am talking about macros in the language design sense (e.g. as in Lisp), not the narrow meaning of the C/C++ preprocessor.
  - milesrout 10y ago
    That's reasonable. Although you don't get the AST, so they're not as powerful as true AST macros.