LUMIERA.clone/src/lib/meta/no-instance.hpp

65 lines
2.3 KiB
C++

/*
NO-INSTANCE.hpp - marker for pure metaprogramming types
Copyright (C) Lumiera.org
2011, Hermann Vosseler <Ichthyostega@web.de>
This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as
published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of
the License, or (at your option) any later version.
This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
GNU General Public License for more details.
You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
Foundation, Inc., 675 Mass Ave, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
*/
/** @file no-instance.hpp
** Metaprogramming helper to prevent an entity to be ever instantiated at runtime.
** For Template Metaprogramming, we often define classes for the sole purpose of
** forming a distinct type. Such helper types are established during compilation
** and typically trigger the instantiation of further types from templates, while
** there is never the intention to emit any actual code from these entities.
** As a safety measure, such _stricly metaprogramming related_ facilities may be
** marked to provoke a compilation failure, when the compiler -- accidentally --
** attempts to generate code to incorporate such an entity into the runtime world.
**
** \par example
** The classical example is a marker type used to select one of various implementation
** flavours of a given facility. In fact this helper was created to mark variations
** based on the time code format in use.
** @see timecode.hpp
*/
#ifndef LIB_META_NO_INSTANCE_H
#define LIB_META_NO_INSTANCE_H
#include <boost/static_assert.hpp>
namespace lib {
namespace meta{
/**
* An Entity never to be instantiated.
* Marker baseclass for elements used in metaprogramming only.
* Every attempt to instantiate such an element will cause an
* compilation failure
*/
template<class X>
struct NoInstance
{
NoInstance() { BOOST_STATIC_ASSERT(!sizeof(X)); }
NoInstance (NoInstance const&) { BOOST_STATIC_ASSERT(!sizeof(X)); }
};
}} // namespace lib::meta
#endif