October 7th, 2024

Reflection in C++26: Metafunctions for Enums and Classes

C++26 introduces compile-time reflection for enumerations and classes, enabling introspection and manipulation through metafunctions. The blog showcases code examples and discusses future explorations of these features.

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Reflection in C++26: Metafunctions for Enums and Classes

The blog post discusses the use of reflection in C++26, focusing on metafunctions for enumerations and classes. It highlights a program that iterates through an enumeration, displaying each enumerator's name and value using compile-time reflection features. The code utilizes templates and meta-programming utilities to create a structured representation of enumeration items. The example provided, `MyEnum`, demonstrates how to access enumerator names and values at compile time. Additionally, the post presents another program that accesses class members by index and name, showcasing the flexibility of reflection in manipulating class data. The `Base` class example illustrates how to increment a member variable and invoke member functions using reflection. The author emphasizes the potential of compile-time reflection to enhance code introspection and manipulation capabilities in C++. The post concludes with a note on future explorations of reflection in C++26.

- C++26 introduces compile-time reflection capabilities for enums and classes.

- The blog provides code examples demonstrating how to access enum members and class data members.

- Metafunctions allow for introspection and manipulation of enumerations and class members at compile time.

- The use of `consteval` functions enables immediate evaluation of reflection-related operations.

- Future posts will continue to explore the features of reflection in C++26.

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By @asyx - 7 months
Really looking forward to this. Really excited for a C++ version of Rust‘s serde