#include <algorithm>
 
template< class T >
const T& max( const T& a, const T& b );
 
template< class T, class Compare >
const T& max( const T& a, const T& b, Compare comp );

Compares two elements and returns the greater one. One version of the function uses operator< to compare the arguments, another uses the compare function p.

a, b - arguments to be compared

comp - comparison function which returns true if the first parameter is less than the second

the greater of the given arguments

First version:

template<class T>
const T& max(const T& a, const T& b)
{
    return (a < b) ? b : a;
}

Second version:

template<class T, class Compare>
const T& max(const T& a, const T& b, Compare comp)
{
    return (comp(a, b)) ? b : a;
}

#include <algorithm>
#include <iostream>
 
int main()
{
    std::cout << "larger of 1 and 9999: " << std::max(1, 9999) << std::endl;
    std::cout << "larger of 'a' and 'b': " << std::max('a', 'b') << std::endl;
    std::cout << "larger of 3.14159 and 2.71828: " << std::max(3.14159, 2.71828) << std::endl;
 
    return 0;
}

Output:

larger of 1 and 9999: 9999
larger of 'a' and 'b': b
larger of 3.14159 and 2.71828: 3.14159

constant

max_element, min, min_element