One can define a static array at compile time as follows:
const std::size_t size = 5;
unsigned int list[size] = { 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 };
Question 1 - Is it possible by using various kinds of metaprogramming techniques to assign these values "programmatically" at compile time?
Question 2 - Assuming all the values in the array are to be the same barr a few, is it possible to selectively assign values at compile time in a programmatic manner?
eg:
const std::size_t size = 7;
unsigned int list[size] = { 0, 0, 2, 3, 0, 0, 0 };
UPDATE: Georg Fritzsche's solution is amazing, needs a little work to get it compiling on msvc and intel compilers, but nonetheless a very interesting approach to the problem.
The closest you can get is using C++0x features to initialize local or member arrays of templates from a variadic template argument list.
This is of course limited by the maximum template instantiation depth and wether that actually makes a notable difference in your case would have to be measured.
Example:
template<unsigned... args> struct ArrayHolder {
static const unsigned data[sizeof...(args)];
};
template<unsigned... args>
const unsigned ArrayHolder<args...>::data[sizeof...(args)] = { args... };
template<size_t N, template<size_t> class F, unsigned... args>
struct generate_array_impl {
typedef typename generate_array_impl<N-1, F, F<N>::value, args...>::result result;
};
template<template<size_t> class F, unsigned... args>
struct generate_array_impl<0, F, args...> {
typedef ArrayHolder<F<0>::value, args...> result;
};
template<size_t N, template<size_t> class F>
struct generate_array {
typedef typename generate_array_impl<N-1, F>::result result;
};
Usage for your 1..5
case:
template<size_t index> struct MetaFunc {
enum { value = index + 1 };
};
void test() {
const size_t count = 5;
typedef generate_array<count, MetaFunc>::result A;
for (size_t i=0; i<count; ++i)
std::cout << A::data[i] << "\n";
}