C++ templates are great. It's the almost-templates that cause so much trouble. The late 90s was not a good decade for C++. Regardless, today I can write a ge

C++ templates are great. It's the almost-templates that cause so much trouble. The late 90s was not a good decade for C++. Regardless, today I can write a general, reference-counting pointer off the cuff in about 50 lines of code and it will work for any type. I had to do exactly that for a school project where we couldn't use boost, actually :)