Variable Template Restrictions

Are there any limitations or restrictions when using variable templates?

While variable templates provide a lot of flexibility and power, there are a few limitations and restrictions to keep in mind:

  • Variable templates are a compile-time feature, so the arguments passed to the template must be known at compile-time. This means that the arguments must be constant expressions or constexpr variables.
  • The type used in a variable template must be a complete type at the point of instantiation. If the type is incomplete or not yet defined, it will result in a compilation error.
  • Variable templates cannot be specialized in the same way as function templates or class templates. The template arguments must match exactly for the variable template to be instantiated.
  • Variable templates are not allowed to have default template arguments. Each template parameter must be explicitly provided when instantiating the variable template.
  • The initialization of a variable template must be done with a constant expression. Non-constant expressions or runtime values cannot be used to initialize a variable template.

It's important to be aware of these limitations when using variable templates to ensure that your code compiles successfully and behaves as expected.

Variable Templates

An introduction to variable templates, allowing us to create variables at compile time.

Questions & Answers

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