// by Suzuki

// December 2001

//This is an example of a template function 
//that works for string and integers

#include <cstdlib>   // Provides EXIT_SUCCESS
#include <iostream>  // Provides cout
#include <string>    // Provides string class
using namespace std;

template <class Item>
Item maximal(Item a, Item b);

void main( )
{
    string s1 = "this_is_a_long_string";
    string s2="short_string";

    cout << "This is the longer string " << maximal(s1, s2) << endl;
    cout << "This is the bigger integer " << maximal(10, 20) << endl;
        
}

template <class Item>
Item maximal(Item a, Item b)
{
    if (a > b)
        return a;
    else
        return b;
}