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The curiously recurring template pattern (CRTP) is an idiom, originally in C++, in which a class X derives from a class template instantiation using X itself as a template argument. [1] More generally it is known as F-bound polymorphism, and it is a form of F-bounded quantification.
Polymorphism can be distinguished by when the implementation is selected: statically (at compile time) or dynamically (at run time, typically via a virtual function). This is known respectively as static dispatch and dynamic dispatch, and the corresponding forms of polymorphism are accordingly called static polymorphism and dynamic polymorphism.
Examples are templates in C++, and generic programming in Fortran and other languages, in conjunction with function overloading (including operator overloading). Code is said to be monomorphised , with specific data types deduced and traced through the call graph , in order to instantiate specific versions of generic functions , and select ...
For example, the use of the << operator in C++ a << b shifts the bits in the variable a left by b bits if a and b are of an integer type, but if a is an output stream then the above code will attempt to write a b to the stream.
Polymorphism is the phenomenon wherein somewhat interchangeable objects each expose an operation of the same name but possibly differing in behavior. As an example, a File object and a Database object both have a StoreRecord method that can be used to write a personnel record to storage. Their implementations differ.
The same function name is used for more than one function definition in a particular module, class or namespace; The functions must have different type signatures, i.e. differ in the number or the types of their formal parameters (as in C++) or additionally in their return type (as in Ada).
For example, the simple math expressions 3+1 and 6-2 both achieve the same result, yet run with different machine code in a CPU. This technique is sometimes used by computer viruses, shellcodes and computer worms to hide their presence. [1] Encryption is the most common method to hide code.
Roberts (p. 171) gives a related example in Java, using a Class to represent a stack frame. The example given is a solution to the Tower of Hanoi problem wherein a stack simulates polymorphic recursion with a beginning, temporary and ending nested stack substitution structure. [5]