C++ Curiously Recurring Template Pattern (CRTP) CRTP to avoid code duplication
Example
The example in Visitor Pattern provides a compelling use-case for CRTP:
struct IShape
{
virtual ~IShape() = default;
virtual void accept(IShapeVisitor&) const = 0;
};
struct Circle : IShape
{
// ...
// Each shape has to implement this method the same way
void accept(IShapeVisitor& visitor) const override { visitor.visit(*this); }
// ...
};
struct Square : IShape
{
// ...
// Each shape has to implement this method the same way
void accept(IShapeVisitor& visitor) const override { visitor.visit(*this); }
// ...
};
Each child type of IShape needs to implement the same function the same way. That's a lot of extra typing. Instead, we can introduce a new type in the hierarchy that does this for us:
template <class Derived>
struct IShapeAcceptor : IShape {
void accept(IShapeVisitor& visitor) const override {
// visit with our exact type
visitor.visit(*static_cast<Derived const*>(this));
}
};
And now, each shape simply needs to inherit from the acceptor:
struct Circle : IShapeAcceptor<Circle>
{
Circle(const Point& center, double radius) : center(center), radius(radius) {}
Point center;
double radius;
};
struct Square : IShapeAcceptor<Square>
{
Square(const Point& topLeft, double sideLength) : topLeft(topLeft), sideLength(sideLength) {}
Point topLeft;
double sideLength;
};
No duplicate code necessary.
