What are the similarities and differences between C++ function overloading and function templates?

Function overloading and function templates are different in purpose and implementation. Function overloading creates functions with the same name but different parameters, while function templates describe a family of functions that generate function instances based on type parameters. Function overloading generates specific functions at compile time, while function templates are generated at runtime and may be less efficient.

C Function overloading and function templates

Function overloading and function templates in C are two closely related concepts, but have different purposes and implementation methods.

Function Overloading

Function overloading allows the creation of multiple functions with the same name but different parameter types or numbers. The compiler distinguishes between overloaded functions based on the function's argument list, allowing functions with different behavior to be called in code using the same function name.

Syntax:

return_type function_name(parameter_list1) { ... }
return_type function_name(parameter_list2) { ... }

Practical case:

Consider functions for calculating circular and rectangular areas:

double calculateArea(double radius);  // 计算圆形区域
double calculateArea(double width, double height);  // 计算矩形区域

Function Template

Function template is not overloading, but describes the pattern of the function family. These function families generate specific function instances with different types of parameters (such as integers, floating point numbers, or custom types).

Syntax:

template <class T>  // 指定模板参数类型
return_type function_name(template_parameter_list) { ... }

Practical example:

Consider a function that calculates the largest element in a list:

template <class T>
T findMax(vector<T> &list) {
  // 查找并返回列表中最大元素
}

Similarities and Differences

The main similarities and differences between function overloading and function templates are as follows:

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