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Generic programming is a style of computer programming in which algorithms are written in terms of...

Generic programming is a style of computer programming in which algorithms are written in terms of to-be-specified-later types that are then instantiated when needed for specific types provided as parameters. This approach, pioneered by Ada in 1983, permits writing common functions or types that differ only in the set of types on which they operate when used, thus reducing duplication. Software entities created using generic programming are known as generics in Ada, Eiffel, Java, C#, Visual Basic .NET and Haskell; templates in C++; and parameterized types in the influential 1994 book Design Patterns. The authors of Design Patterns note that this technique, especially when combined with delegation, is very powerful but that "Dynamic, highly parameterized software is harder to understand than more static software." (Gang of Four 1995:21) Generic programming refers to features of certain statically typed programming languages that allow some code to effectively circumvent the static typing requirements. For instance in C++, a template is a routine in which some parameters are qualified by a type variable. Since code generation in C++ depends on concrete types, the template is