Template metaprogramming

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Template metaprogramming (TMP) is a metaprogramming technique in which templates are used by a compiler to generate temporary source code, which is merged by the compiler with the rest of the source code and then compiled. The output of these templates can include compile-time constants, data structures, and complete functions. The use of templates can be thought of as compile-time polymorphism. The technique is used by a number of languages, the best-known being C++, but also Curl, D, Nim, and XL. Template metaprogramming was, in a sense, discovered accidentally. Some other languages support similar, if not more powerful, compile-time facilities (such as Lisp's macros). The use of templates as a metaprogramming technique requires two distinct operations: a template must be defined, and a defined template must be instantiated. The generic form of the generated source code is described in the template definition, and when the template is instantiated, the generic form in the template is used to generate a specific set of source code. Template metaprogramming is Turing-complete, meaning that any computation expressible by a computer program can be computed, in some form, by a template metaprogram. Templates are different from macros.