Initializing a const vector of pointers to array at compile time using templates

Question

The following class will not compile under C++11; the loop as it stands can only be executed at runtime and so one gets a "char(*)[i] is a variably-modified type" error from the template class static function call within the loop:

#include <cstddef>
#include <vector>

template <std::size_t N>
class Foo
{
private:
    const std::vector<char(*)[]> bar = bar_init();

    static std::vector<char(*)[]> bar_init()
    {
        std::vector<char(*)[]> init;

        for (size_t i = N; i > 0; i >>= 1)
        {
            auto ptr_to_array = MyClass<char(*)[i]>::static_return_ptr_to_array();
            init.emplace_back(reinterpret_cast<char(*)[]>(ptr_to_array));
        }

        return init;
    }
};

Is there a way I can accomplish the same effect using templates within the initialization function? That is to say, initialize "bar" of size log2(N) at "Foo" class instantiation as a const vector of pointers to array of char with each vector element containing e.g. for N=32 the output of:

MyClass<char(*)[32]>::static_return_ptr_to_array();
MyClass<char(*)[16]>::static_return_ptr_to_array();
MyClass<char(*)[8]>::static_return_ptr_to_array();

//etc...

Answer 1

If you define index container type traits (or you use std::index_sequence, unfortunately available only starting from C++14)

template <std::size_t ...>
struct indexList
 { };

and you define a type traits to extract a sequence of decreasing power of two

template <std::size_t, typename>
struct iLH;

template <std::size_t N, std::size_t ... Is>
struct iLH<N, indexList<Is...>> : public iLH<(N >> 1), indexList<Is..., N>>
 { };

template <std::size_t ... Is>
struct iLH<0U, indexList<Is...>>
 { using type = indexList<Is...>; };

template <std::size_t N>
struct getIndexList : public iLH<N, indexList<>>
 { };

template <std::size_t N>
using getIndexList_t = typename getIndexList<N>::type;

should be possible write your Foo simply as

template <std::size_t N>
class Foo
 {
   private:
      const std::vector<char **> bar = bar_init (getIndexList_t<N>{});

      template <std::size_t ... Is>
      static std::vector<char **> bar_init (indexList<Is...> const &)
       {
         std::vector<char **> init { MyClass<char(*)[Is]>::getPtr()... };

         return init;
       }
 };

(supposing a static getPtr() method in MyClass) that return a char ** and a bar vector of char **).

The following is a full compiling example

template <typename T>
struct MyClass;

template <std::size_t Dim>
struct MyClass<char(*)[Dim]>
 {
   static char ** getPtr ()
    { static char ach[Dim]; static char * ret { ach } ; return &ret; }
 };

template <std::size_t ...>
struct indexList
 { };

template <std::size_t, typename>
struct iLH;

template <std::size_t N, std::size_t ... Is>
struct iLH<N, indexList<Is...>> : public iLH<(N >> 1), indexList<Is..., N>>
 { };

template <std::size_t ... Is>
struct iLH<0U, indexList<Is...>>
 { using type = indexList<Is...>; };

template <std::size_t N>
struct getIndexList : public iLH<N, indexList<>>
 { };

template <std::size_t N>
using getIndexList_t = typename getIndexList<N>::type;

template <std::size_t N>
class Foo
 {
   private:
      const std::vector<char **> bar = bar_init (getIndexList_t<N>{});

      template <std::size_t ... Is>
      static std::vector<char **> bar_init (indexList<Is...> const &)
       {
         std::vector<char **> init { MyClass<char(*)[Is]>::getPtr()... };

         return init;
       }
 };

int main ()
 {
   Foo<32U>  f32;
 }

Answer 2

something like ( in c++11 )

template<int I> 
struct tag{};

void init( std::vector<char(*)[]>& result, tag<0> ){}

template<int I>
void init( std::vector<char(*)[]>& result, tag<I> )
{
    auto ptr_to_array = MyClass<char(*)[I]>::static_return_ptr_to_array;

    result.emplace_back(reinterpret_cast<char(*)[]>(ptr_to_array));

    init(result,tag<(I>>1)>{});
}

template <std::size_t N>
class Foo
{
private:
    const std::vector<char(*)[]> bar = bar_init();

    static std::vector<char(*)[]> bar_init()
    {
        std::vector<char(*)[]> result;

        init( result, tag<N>{} );

        return result;
    }
};

in c++17 this can be further simplified with an if constexpr and no tag<>. Moreover, note that std::vector<char(*)[]> is not portable because vector needs a complete type.

Answer 3

I think the crucial insight here, is that you can't write:

int i = ?? // automatic variable
auto val = MyClass<char(*)[i]>::static_return_ptr_to_array()

... template arguments have to be constants.

What you can do is something like:

const std::unordered_map<int,???> allocator_map = {
    {1, MyClass<char(*)[1]>::static_return_ptr_to_array},
    {2, MyClass<char(*)[2]>::static_return_ptr_to_array},
    {4, MyClass<char(*)[4]>::static_return_ptr_to_array},
    {8, MyClass<char(*)[8]>::static_return_ptr_to_array},
    ...
};

and then

const auto it = allocator_map.find(i);
if (it == allocator_map.end())
    // throw error
auto val = (it->second)();

Basically, the idea is that you have a static array of allocator functions, and then index into it. (There may be clever ways of using templates to initialize the map. I probably would just write it out by hand though - possibly using a preprocessor macro).