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In this context, an archetype is a theoretical class that supplies a collection of methods, data members, static functions, typedefs, or other features. The archetype also includes a description of the semantics necessary to create or use the class to represent a particular concept. Classes that mimic the archetype by providing the same features embody the same concept and can be used wherever the archetype can be used.
Archetypes are useful in C++ for describing the features of valid values for template parameters. The designer of the template has a clear idea of the necessary and sufficient features of the template parameter, and the compiler will enforce the syntactic requirements at build time, but the user of a template needs documentation to describe the semantics and to allow the relationships between archetypes and classes to be clearly spelled out.
Examples of archetypes in the Standard C++ Library are the different types of iterator and container. These archetypes are described in the topics Iterator Conventions and STL Containers.
ATL Server defines the following archetypes:
Name |
Description |
|---|---|
Classes that conform to the worker archetype provide the code to process work items queued on a thread pool. |