"It is easy to study the rules of overloading and of templates without noticing that together they are one of the keys to elegant and efficient type-safe containers"
About this Quote
The subtext is a defense of C++ as a principled tool, not a kitchen-sink mess. Critics often frame templates as arcane metaprogramming and overloading as a path to ambiguity. Stroustrup flips that: the elegance isn’t accidental, it’s an emergent property of the type system when you use its mechanisms in tandem. A `vector
Context matters: Stroustrup helped invent C++ precisely to reconcile high-level abstraction with low-level control. “Easy to study” reads like a jab at pedagogy that teaches features before design intent. He’s urging readers to notice the ecosystem effect: combine generic programming with carefully chosen overloads, and you get containers that are reusable, performant, and resistant to whole categories of runtime bugs.
Quote Details
| Topic | Coding & Programming |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
| Cite |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Stroustrup, Bjarne. (2026, January 17). It is easy to study the rules of overloading and of templates without noticing that together they are one of the keys to elegant and efficient type-safe containers. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/it-is-easy-to-study-the-rules-of-overloading-and-46104/
Chicago Style
Stroustrup, Bjarne. "It is easy to study the rules of overloading and of templates without noticing that together they are one of the keys to elegant and efficient type-safe containers." FixQuotes. January 17, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/it-is-easy-to-study-the-rules-of-overloading-and-46104/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"It is easy to study the rules of overloading and of templates without noticing that together they are one of the keys to elegant and efficient type-safe containers." FixQuotes, 17 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/it-is-easy-to-study-the-rules-of-overloading-and-46104/. Accessed 6 Feb. 2026.
