One feature that I like a lot in Rust is return type polymorphism, best exemplified with the following snippet of code:

use std::collections::HashSet;

fn main() {
    let vec: Vec<_> = (0..10).filter(|a| a % 2 == 0).collect();
    let set: HashSet<_> = (0..10).filter(|a| a % 2 == 0).collect();
    println!("vec: {:?}", vec);
    println!("set: {:?}", set); 
}

We have the same expression ((0..10).filter(|a| a % 2 == 0).collect()) that results in two totally different types of values (a Vec and a HashSet)!

This is because Rust allows you to write a function which is generic in its return type, which is a super-power that C++ does not have. But is there a way to emulate this behaviour with some clever code?

Git is a distributed version control system. Originally written by Linus Torvalds to be used with the development of the Linux kernel, it has now become the go-to way to share work between multiple developers.

In this article I will summarise what I feel to be the next-step basics of git, explaining each notion along the way.

Coming back from our last post about generic flyweights in C++, we can write a flyweight that can be used with any abstract base classes.

The flyweight is a well-known GoF design pattern.

Its intent is to minimize memory usage by reducing the number of instantiations of a given object.

I will show you how to implement a robust flyweight in C++, as well as a way to make it templatable for easy use with no boiler-plate.