Cool C++0X features II, Variadic templates: What's wrong with varargs

Last time we explained what variadic templates are. We'll see what they can do now. We mentioned that solving the problem of having a type-safe varargs is one of the best ways of applying variadic templates, but what's varargs?

Varargs functions (from C world, not even from C++!) are functions which have a variable number of arguments, just like printf. These are usually very dangerous functions, since they are not typesafe. Let's see how they are implemented with an example:

#include <stdarg.h>
#include <iostream>

// My god, it's full of bugs
void va_println(int args_left, ...) {
   va_list arg_lst;
   va_start(arg_lst, args_left);

   while(args_left--) {
      const char *p = va_arg(arg_lst, const char*);
      std::cout << p;
   }

   va_end(arg_lst);
}

int main() {
   va_println(3, "Hola ", "mundo", "n");
   return 0;
}

This implementation of a function with variable arguments is, more or less, the best C can give us, yet it riddled with bugs and hidden problems. Let's go one by one:

• Arg num will get out of sync: You need to specify the list of args as well as how many you have. That WILL get out of sync. Trust me, it's just a mater of time. And when it does, you'll have a coredump.
• Type-unsafe: You just tell varargs "Hey, get me an int". And it will give you an int, no warranties included. If it was supposed to be a short instead, though luck, you end up with a coredump.
• No, really, coredump: Where are so many coredumps coming from, you may ask. Easy, varargs it's just a way of handling the stack. Calling va_arg just moves the stack pointer by the sizeof the datatype you requested. That means no compile-time checks are included.
• No pod types: Remember POD types? Try running this code:

#include <stdarg.h>

struct X { virtual ~X(){} };

void va_println(int args_left, ...) {
   va_list arg_lst;
   va_start(arg_lst, args_left);

   while(args_left--) {
      X *p = va_arg(arg_lst, X*);
   }

   va_end(arg_lst);
}

int main() {
   X x, y, z;
   va_println(3, x, y, z);
   return 0;
}

And how do we fix it?

The fix is easy. Too easy. You just need C++0X. We will discuss why this is better next time, but just as a sneak peak:

void println() {}
template <typename H, typename... T> void println(H p, T... t) {
   std::cout << p;
   println(t...);
}

int main() {
   println("Hola", " mundo ", 42, 'n');
   return 0;
}

Remember to compile using -std=c++0x in gcc. (Thanks Hugo Arregui for correcting the POD example)