Passing a function pointer is a common practice in event-driven systems, whereby a callback routine is invoked through a pointer. C++, however, offers a better alternative to function pointers: function objects. Using a function object instead of a pointer offers several advantages. First, your code is more resilient to changes, since the object containing the function can be modified without affecting its users. In addition, compilers can inline a function object, thereby enhancing performance even further. But perhaps the most compelling argument in favor of function objects is their genericity. A function object can embody a generic algorithm by means of a member template, something not easily accomplished with ordinary function pointers. In the following example, a function object implements a generic negation operator:
#include #include using namespace std;class negate { public : template < class T > T operator() (T t) const { return -t;} //generic negation operator };void callback(int n, const negate& neg) { //pass a function object rather than a function pointer n = neg(n); // invoke the overloaded () operator to negate n cout << n;}void main() { callback(5, negate() ); //output -5} 
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