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C++ Fundamentals for Professionals

Type Traits: Categories and Transformations

Explore the concept of C++ type traits focusing on 14 primary and 7 composite type categories. Understand how type traits aid in optimized memory operations and static type comparisons. Learn how to perform compile-time type transformations to modify or generate new types, enhancing your grasp of C++ utilities for more efficient programming.

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Primary type categories #

C++ has 14 primary type categories. They are complete and orthogonal, meaning that each type is exactly a member of one type category. The check for the type categories is independent of the type qualifiers const or volatile.

The 14 primary type categories are as follows:

C++
template <class T> struct is_void;
template <class T> struct is_integral;
template <class T> struct is_floating_point;
template <class T> struct is_array;
template <class T> struct is_pointer;
template <class T> struct is_reference;
template <class T> struct is_member_object_pointer;
template <class T> struct is_member_function_pointer;
template <class T> struct is_enum;
template <class T> struct is_union;
template <class T> struct is_class;
template <class T> struct is_function;
template <class T> struct is_lvalue_reference;
template <class T> struct is_rvalue_reference;

Composite type categories #

Based on the 14 primary type categories, there are 7 composite type categories in C++.

Performance - working on the entire memory area #

This idea is quite straightforward and is used in current implementations of the STL. If the elements of a container are simple enough, the algorithm of the STL, such as std::copy, std::fill, or std::equal, will be directly applied to the memory area. Instead of using std::copy to copy the elements individually, the process is completed ...