Question

How to implement a very simple edition of boost::bind, which does not bind arguments, but offer a way to call member function in c++ classes.

Here is my first try:

#include <iostream>

struct Foo {
    void x(int i) { std::cout << "Foo " << i << std::endl; }
};

struct Bar {
    void y(int i) { std::cout << "Bar " << i << std::endl; }
};

template<typename A1, typename I, typename M>
struct Binder {
    Binder(I i, M m) : i_(i), m_(m) { }
    void operator()(A1 a1) {
        (i_->*m_)(a1);
    }

    I i_;
    M m_;
};

template<typename A1, typename I, typename M>
Binder<A1, I, M> my_bind(I i, M m) {
    return Binder<A1, I, M>(i, m);
}

int main(int argc, const char *argv[])
{
    Foo foo;
    Bar bar;

    Binder<int, Foo*, void (Foo::*)(int)> b1 = my_bind<int>(&foo, &Foo::x);
    Binder<int, Bar*, void (Bar::*)(int)> b2 = my_bind<int>(&bar, &Bar::y);

    b1(1);
    b2(2);

    return 0;
}

The implementation above does work, and will print:

Foo 1
Bar 2

The problem is that the two invokes of my_bind returns objects of different types. How can I alter the program, such that my_bind will return a type which only depends on A1.

Answer 1

The problem is that the two invokes of my_bind returns objects of different types. How can I alter the program, such that my_bind will return a type which only depends on A1.

It is possible to do with type erasure.

In short:

1. Create Abstract class with interface you like to have. It may have some template parameters. (AbstractBinder in below code)
2. Create Concrete class which implements this interface. Concrete class may have more template arguments than interface. (Binder class below)
3. Create Holder class with template constructor – which creates Concrete class, but stores only pointer to it’s base Abstract class. So, Holder class has only template parameters required for Abstract interface, while its constructor has all the rest template parameters required for Concrete class. (BinderHolder class below)

live demo

Usage:

int main()
{
    Foo foo;
    Bar bar;

    BinderHolder<int> b1 = my_bind<int>(&foo, &Foo::x);
    BinderHolder<int> b2 = my_bind<int>(&bar, &Bar::y);

    b1(1);
    b2(2);
}

Full code:

template<typename A1>
struct AbstractBinder
{
    virtual void call(A1 a1)=0;
    virtual AbstractBinder<A1> *clone()=0;
    virtual ~AbstractBinder(){}
};

template<typename A1, typename I, typename M>
struct Binder : AbstractBinder<A1>
{
    Binder(I i, M m) : i_(i), m_(m) { }
    void call(A1 a1)
    {
        (i_->*m_)(a1);
    }
    virtual AbstractBinder<A1> *clone()
    {
        return new Binder(*this);
    }
    I i_;
    M m_;
};

template<typename A1>
class BinderHolder
{
    AbstractBinder<A1> *ptr;
    BinderHolder &operator=(const BinderHolder&);
public:
    template<typename I, typename M>
    BinderHolder(I i, M m)
        : ptr(new Binder<A1,I,M>(i,m))
    {
    }
    BinderHolder(const BinderHolder &rhs)
        : ptr(rhs.ptr->clone())
    {
    }
    ~BinderHolder()
    {
        delete ptr;
    }
    void operator()(A1 a1)
    {
        ptr->call(a1);
    }
};

template<typename A1, typename I, typename M>
BinderHolder<A1> my_bind(I i, M m) {
    return BinderHolder<A1>(i, m);
}

#include <iostream>

struct Foo {
    void x(int i) { std::cout << "Foo " << i << std::endl; }
};

struct Bar {
    void y(int i) { std::cout << "Bar " << i << std::endl; }
};

int main()
{
    Foo foo;
    Bar bar;

    BinderHolder<int> b1 = my_bind<int>(&foo, &Foo::x);
    BinderHolder<int> b2 = my_bind<int>(&bar, &Bar::y);

    b1(1);
    b2(2);
}

P.S. If you are sure, that all your Concrete classes would have same size, then you can replace heap allocations with placement new inside to fixed size buffer, and add static_assert for safety.