Fill container with template parameters

Question

I want to fill the template parameters passed to a variadic template into an array with fixed length. For that purpose I wrote the following helper function templates

template<typename ForwardIterator, typename T>
void fill(ForwardIterator i) { }

template<typename ForwardIterator, typename T, T head, T... tail>
void fill(ForwardIterator i) {
  *i = head;
  fill<ForwardIterator, T, tail...>(++i);
}

the following class template

template<typename T, T... args>
struct params_to_array;

template<typename T, T last>
struct params_to_array<T, last> {
  static const std::size_t SIZE = 1;
  typedef std::array<T, SIZE> array_type;

  static const array_type params;

private:
  void init_params() {
    array_type result;
    fill<typename array_type::iterator, T, head, tail...>(result.begin());
    return result;
  }
};

template<typename T, T head, T... tail>
struct params_to_array<T, head, tail...> {
  static const std::size_t SIZE = params_to_array<T, tail...>::SIZE + 1;
  typedef std::array<T, SIZE> array_type;

  static const array_type params;

private:
  void init_params() {
    array_type result;
    fill<typename array_type::iterator, T, last>(result.begin());
    return result;
  }
};

and initialized the static constants via

template<typename T, T last>
const typename param_to_array<T, last>::array_type
param_to_array<T, last>::params =
  param_to_array<T, last>::init_params();

and

template<typename T, T head, T... tail>
const typename param_to_array<T, head, tail...>::array_type
param_to_array<T, head, tail...>::params =
  param_to_array<T, head, tail...>::init_params();

Now the array

param_to_array<int, 1, 3, 4>::params

is a std::array<int, 3> and contains the values 1, 3 and 4. I think there must be a simpler way to achieve this behavior. Any suggestions?

Edit: As Noah Roberts suggested in his answer I modified my program like the following: I wrote a new struct counting the elements in a parameter list:

template<typename T, T... args>
struct count;

template<typename T, T head, T... tail>
struct count<T, head, tail...> {
  static const std::size_t value = count<T, tail...>::value + 1;
};

template<typename T, T last>
stuct count<T, last> {
  static const std::size_t value = 1;
};

and wrote the following function

template<typename T, T... args>
std::array<T, count<T, args...>::value>
params_to_array() {
  std::array<T, count<T, args...>::value> result;
  fill<typename std::array<T, count<T, args...>::value>::iterator,
       T, args...>(result.begin());
  return result;
}

Now I get with

params_to_array<int, 10, 20, 30>()

a std::array<int, 3> with the content 10, 20 and 30. Any further suggestions?

Answer 1

The only reason I can see for a specialization for terminus in param_to_array is this line:

static const std::size_t SIZE = params_to_array<T, tail...>::SIZE + 1;

Since your params_to_array metafunction creates the array though you're going to end up instantiating arrays of size N, N-1, ...., 1. Thus I think your object could use some help from composition and the single responsibility rule. Create another metafunction that can count the elements in a parameter list and use it instead of this method. Then you can get rid of this recursion in params_to_array at the least.

Answer 2

There is no need to count the number of types in a parameter pack manually, thats what the sizeof... operator is for. Additionally i'd make the iterator type for fill() deducible, there is no need to specify it explicitly:

template<typename T, typename FwdIt>
void fill(FwdIt it) { }

template<typename T, T head, T... tail, typename FwdIt>
void fill(FwdIt it) {
    *it = head;
    fill<T, tail...>(++it);
}

template<class T, T... args> 
std::array<T, sizeof...(args)> params_to_array() {
    std::array<T, sizeof...(args)> a;
    fill<T, args...>(a.begin());
    return a;
};

Parameter packs however are also expandable in initializer-list contexts, which makes fill() redundant:

template<class T, T... args> 
std::array<T, sizeof...(args)> params_to_array() {
    std::array<T, sizeof...(args)> a = {{args...}};
    return a;
};