On Mon, Nov 18, 2013 at 3:27 PM, Jonathan Wakely
On 18 November 2013 10:07, Andrey Semashev wrote:
I probably didn't express myself clear. I was asking whether the compiler is able to optimize N identical instantiations to the cost of just one.
There aren't N identical instantiations, there can only be two.
Instantiating a given template specialization is only done once per translation unit. When it's already instantiated there's nothing to "optimize", the compiler just refers to the existing instantiation and uses it, similar to how it would use a non-template class.
Across multiple translation units there might be duplicate instantiations that can be discarded, but that's dealt with by the linker, in the same way as duplicate copies of inline functions, vtables and RTTI info.
You're right, of course. Thanks.