C++ – Programmatically create static arrays at compile time in C++

cmetaprogrammingstatic-array

One can define a static array at compile time as follows:

const std::size_t size = 5;    
unsigned int list[size] = { 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 };

Question 1 – Is it possible by using various kinds of metaprogramming techniques to assign these values "programmatically" at compile time?

Question 2 – Assuming all the values in the array are to be the same barr a few, is it possible to selectively assign values at compile time in a programmatic manner?

eg:

const std::size_t size = 7;        
unsigned int list[size] = { 0, 0, 2, 3, 0, 0, 0 };

Solutions using C++0x are welcome
The array may be quite large, few
hundred elements long
The array for now will only consist of
POD types
It can also be assumed the size of
the array will be known beforehand,
in a static compile-time compliant
manner.
Solutions must be in C++ (no script, no macros, no pp
or code generator based solutions pls)

UPDATE: Georg Fritzsche's solution is amazing, needs a little work to get it compiling on msvc and intel compilers, but nonetheless a very interesting approach to the problem.

Best Answer

The closest you can get is using C++0x features to initialize local or member arrays of templates from a variadic template argument list.
This is of course limited by the maximum template instantiation depth and wether that actually makes a notable difference in your case would have to be measured.

Example:

template<unsigned... args> struct ArrayHolder {
    static const unsigned data[sizeof...(args)];
};

template<unsigned... args> 
const unsigned ArrayHolder<args...>::data[sizeof...(args)] = { args... };

template<size_t N, template<size_t> class F, unsigned... args> 
struct generate_array_impl {
    typedef typename generate_array_impl<N-1, F, F<N>::value, args...>::result result;
};

template<template<size_t> class F, unsigned... args> 
struct generate_array_impl<0, F, args...> {
    typedef ArrayHolder<F<0>::value, args...> result;
};

template<size_t N, template<size_t> class F> 
struct generate_array {
    typedef typename generate_array_impl<N-1, F>::result result;
};

Usage for your 1..5 case:

template<size_t index> struct MetaFunc { 
    enum { value = index + 1 }; 
};

void test() {
    const size_t count = 5;
    typedef generate_array<count, MetaFunc>::result A;

    for (size_t i=0; i<count; ++i) 
        std::cout << A::data[i] << "\n";
}

Related Solutions

C++ – iostream linker error

The C string.h header and the C++ string header are not interchangeable.

Overall, though, your problem is that the file is getting properly compiled, but the wrong runtime library is getting linked in.

Dev-C++ uses GCC. GCC can correctly determine the language in a file based on file extension, but won't link the right runtime library in unless you specifically ask it to (-lstdc++ at the command line). Calling GCC as "g++" (or, in your case, "mingwin32-g++") will also get the right language and will link the needed library.

C++11: Compile Time Calculation of Array

There is a pure C++11 (no boost, no macros too) solution to this problem. Using the same trick as this answer we can build a sequence of numbers and unpack them to call f to construct a std::array:

#include <array>
#include <algorithm>
#include <iterator>
#include <iostream>

template<int ...>
struct seq { };

template<int N, int ...S>
struct gens : gens<N-1, N-1, S...> { };

template<int ...S>
struct gens<0, S...> {
  typedef seq<S...> type;
};

constexpr int f(int n) {
  return n;
}

template <int N>
class array_thinger {
  typedef typename gens<N>::type list;

  template <int ...S>
  static constexpr std::array<int,N> make_arr(seq<S...>) {
    return std::array<int,N>{{f(S)...}};
  }
public:
  static constexpr std::array<int,N> arr = make_arr(list()); 
};

template <int N>
constexpr std::array<int,N> array_thinger<N>::arr;

int main() {
  std::copy(begin(array_thinger<10>::arr), end(array_thinger<10>::arr), 
            std::ostream_iterator<int>(std::cout, "\n"));
}

(Tested with g++ 4.7)

You could skip std::array entirely with a bit more work, but I think in this instance it's cleaner and simpler to just use std::array.

You can also do this recursively:

#include <array>
#include <functional>
#include <algorithm>
#include <iterator>
#include <iostream>

constexpr int f(int n) {
  return n;
}

template <int N, int ...Vals>
constexpr
typename std::enable_if<N==sizeof...(Vals),std::array<int, N>>::type
make() {
  return std::array<int,N>{{Vals...}};
}

template <int N, int ...Vals>
constexpr
typename std::enable_if<N!=sizeof...(Vals), std::array<int,N>>::type 
make() {
  return make<N, Vals..., f(sizeof...(Vals))>();  
}

int main() {
  const auto arr = make<10>();
  std::copy(begin(arr), end(arr), std::ostream_iterator<int>(std::cout, "\n"));
}

Which is arguably simpler.

Best Answer

Related Solutions

C++ – iostream linker error

C++11: Compile Time Calculation of Array

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