Multiple similar functions coding style - c++

Question

I have a large series of functions that all look very similar: they take the same arguement type and return strings.
std::string f1(T arg);
std::string f2(T arg);
std::string f3(T arg);
std::string f4(T arg);
.
.
.
In a loop, they are used according to one of the variables inside the struct T. Currently to do this, I just have a large switch/case block in my code.
Is there any better coding style for doing this? The large block of code looks very weird.
I wish c++ could be like python and do eval("f" + str(i) + "(arg))"
The block is something like this:
std::string out = "";
switch (arg.tag){
case 1:
out += f1(arg);
break;
case 2:
out += f2(arg);
break;
.
.
.
}
for about 2 dozen cases

Answer 1

With C++11 you can do this fairly easily with std::function and a map:
#include <map>
#include <functional>
#include <string>
#include <iostream>
std::string f1(int) { return "f1"; }
std::string f2(int) { return "f2"; }
std::map<int, std::function<std::string(int)> > funcs = {
{1,f1},
{2,f2}
};
int main() {
std::cout << funcs[1](100) << "\n";
}
Without C++11 you'll want to either use Boost instead of std::function or roll your own type instead. You could use plain old function pointers but that would rule out some handy things (like std::bind/boost::bind, functor objects, lambda functions. You could also define a type hierarchy with an interface that your functions implement for example the following works in C++03 except for the way the map is initialised:
#include <map>
#include <functional>
#include <string>
#include <iostream>
std::string f1(int) { return "f1"; }
std::string f2(int) { return "f2"; }
std::map<int, std::string(*)(int)> funcs = {
std::make_pair(1,f1),
std::make_pair(2,f2)
};
int main() {
std::cout << funcs[1](100) << "\n";
}
or this which lets you write any kind of functor object you like:
#include <map>
#include <string>
#include <iostream>
struct thing {
virtual std::string operator()(int) const = 0;
};
struct f1 : thing {
std::string operator()(int) const { return "f1"; }
};
struct f2 : thing {
std::string operator()(int) const { return "f2"; }
};
// Note the leak - these never get deleted:
std::map<int, thing*> funcs = {
std::make_pair(1,new f1),
std::make_pair(2,new f2)
};
int main() {
std::cout << (*funcs[1])(100) << "\n";
}

Answer 2

One way to emulate the Eval() is to have a map. The key of the map would be the names of the functions, and the values would be the pointers to the corresponding functions.
In this case you will be able to call the functions needed with the map's operator[] by their name. This will somehow emulate the eval("f" + str(i) + "(arg))" behavior, though it may still not be the best solution for you.