Multiple dispatch for collision detection in C++? [closed]

Question

I have circles, boxes and lines. And now I want to implement collision detection between them. This means that I have to have a function for each combination of two kinds of shapes. Of course I can use the same for line vs circle and circle vs line, but I think my point still stands. What's the most elegant way to implement this in C++?

Answer 1

In the Modern C++ Design book, Multimethods chapter explains how to implement them and documents how to use [implementation provided by Loki library][2]. There is also Boost.Multimethod proposal, but it's not there yet. The book demonstrates the power of multimethods exactly on the topic of object collision.