Name 

Description 

Function Templates 

Consider a function max(x, y) that returns the larger of its two arguments. x and y can be of any type that has the ability to be ordered. But, since C++ is a strongly typed language, it expects the types of the parameters x and y to be declared at compile time. Without using templates, many overloaded versions of max are required, one for each data type to be supported even though the code for each version is essentially identical. Each version compares the arguments and returns the larger.
One way around this problem is to use a macro:  

Implicit And Explicit Template Functions 

When doing overload resolution (following the steps of looking for an exact match), the compiler ignores template functions that have been generated implicitly by the compiler.  

Overriding A Template Function 

The previous example is called a function template (or generic function, if you like). A specific instantiation of a function template is called a template function. Template function instantiation occurs when you take the function address, or when you call the function with defined (non-generic) data types. You can override the generation of a template function for a specific type with a non-template function: