A Language for Generic Programming

Abstract. We present a new programming language, named G, designed to support the style of generic programming in the Standard Template Library. The past decade of experience has proved that generic programming is an effective methodology for the design, implementation, and use of software components. At the heart of generic programming is a conceptual framework for describing interfaces between components. Most programming languages have features for describing interfaces, but none match the conceptual framework used in generic programming. G is designed to provide first-class language support for this conceptual framework. We have validated the design of G with an implementation the Standard Template Library and report here on the results. The development and use of interchangeable software components has been going on for a decade and this has stress tested the support for modularity and encapsulation in today’s programming languages. We have incorporated many lessons learned from that experience in the design of G. In particular, G provides support for validating components in isolation and G prevents many common problems in component integration.