If I want to specialise just one method in a template, how do I do it?

Question

Say I have a templated class like

template  struct Node
{
    // general method split
    void split()
    {
        // ... actual code her         


        

Answer 1

Awkward method that I usually use: Declare a "basic" template implementation. Then declare your template implementation, the default implementation would just inherit the "basic" one. The customize would inherit the "basic", plus override specific methods. Like this:

template  struct NodeBase
{
    // methods
};

template  struct Node
    :public NodeBase
{
    // nothing is changed
};

template <> struct Node
    :public NodeBase
{
    // re-define methods you want
};

Note that the "method overriding" has nothing to do with virtual functions or etc. It's just a declaring a function with the same name and parameters as in the base - the compiler will automatically use it.