Question

I have a function template

template<typename T>
void output(T& value)
{
}

Is there a way to create specialization for output std::array objects? Yes, I know, that arrays of different sizes are different types. ) I just hope that there is a way in c++11

Answer 1

You can’t specialize it for all arrays, that would require a “partial specialization” of the template. A full specialization of a template pins down the values of all template parameters (in this case there is only one, T, so a full specialization only covers one type in place of T). A partial specialization covers multiple possible values of the template parameters (in this case we want to cover any std::array<U,N> in place of T), so a partial specialization has template parameters of its own.

C++ permits partial specialization of class templates but not of function templates.

Instead, you can overload it. You define another function template with the same name and different parameters:

template <typename T, size_t N>
void output (const std::array<T,N> &arr); // I guess "const" by the function name