Templates as they were used/implemented in earlier days where quite okay, apart from having to use other people's libraries, I preferred to solve problems using generic programming than just building class hierarchies (which now nicely translates to functional programming).
Apart from very crappy compiler support (looking at you, Microsoft) I really liked the STL. It's simple enough (maybe a bit too simplistic).
Template meta-programming is a whole 'nother deal. It's like the rabid daughter of an unhappy marriage between Lisp's macros and Perl. From some angles, she looks rather enticing. Then she bites down on your crotch.
Apart from very crappy compiler support (looking at you, Microsoft) I really liked the STL. It's simple enough (maybe a bit too simplistic).
Template meta-programming is a whole 'nother deal. It's like the rabid daughter of an unhappy marriage between Lisp's macros and Perl. From some angles, she looks rather enticing. Then she bites down on your crotch.