diff --git a/templates/Makefile b/templates/Makefile
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e5521b4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/templates/Makefile
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+CXX=clang++
+CXXFLAGS=-O3 -Wall -Werror -pedantic -std=c++11
+ASMFLAGS+=-S -mllvm --x86-asm-syntax=intel
+
+all: branching.s
+
+%.s: %.cc
+	${CXX} ${CXXFLAGS} ${ASMFLAGS} $^
+
+clean:
+	rm -f *.s
diff --git a/templates/README.md b/templates/README.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b607054
--- /dev/null
+++ b/templates/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1,48 @@
+# Templates
+Here is an example where the use of templates is superior to what some people
+might call the intuitive way.
+
+The clang-specific `__attribute__ ((noinline))` is used in the examples
+whenever it is necessary to prevent inlining for the sake of the argument. Just
+imagine the function could not be inlined in the real world because it was more
+complex than the examples. (Note this is different from using the `-O0` compiler
+flag.)
+
+The function `doNotOptimizeAway` uses dark magic to make sure the compiler does
+just not eliminate our otherwise empty function calls.
+
+## Flags
+In `branching.cc` there are two functions that supposedly do the same thing:
+`funWithFlagParam` and `funWithFlagTpl`. The former takes a boolean as its
+parameter (by value) and depending on the value of the boolean calls another
+function. `funWithFlagTpl` does the exact same thing except that here the
+boolean is a template parameter. 
+Compiling the example with the attached Makefile will give a file `branching.s`
+containing the generated assembly code.
+
+Even without knowledge of assembly, it can easily been seen that, and why, the
+templated function is superior. First of all it can be seen that there is a
+single definition of `funWithFlagParam` called `__Z16funWithFlagParamb` while
+there are two individual definitions for `funWithFlagTpl` called
+`__Z14funWithFlagTplILb0EEvv` and `__Z14funWithFlagTplILb1EEvv`. Looking at main
+we find essentially four `call`s as expected:
+
+```asm
+	call	__Z16funWithFlagParamb
+	xor	edi, edi
+	call	__Z16funWithFlagParamb
+	call	__Z14funWithFlagTplILb1EEvv
+	call	__Z14funWithFlagTplILb0EEvv
+```
+
+The important difference in the actual functions stems from these two lines in
+`__Z16funWithFlagParamb`:
+```asm
+	test	dil, dil
+	je	LBB1_2
+```
+where a conditional jump is executed. This means whenever our flag is `false`,
+the function performs an additional (and potentially expensive) jump.
+
+_This is not the whole story._ In reality a CPU performs speculative branching
+and other optimizations, that probably deserve another example...
diff --git a/templates/branching.cc b/templates/branching.cc
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ce78b75
--- /dev/null
+++ b/templates/branching.cc
@@ -0,0 +1,25 @@
+#include "helpers.hpp"
+
+__attribute__ ((noinline)) void funWithFlagParam(bool flag) {
+  if (flag) {
+    doSomething();
+  } else {
+    doSomethingElse();
+  }
+}
+
+template <bool FLAG>
+__attribute__ ((noinline)) void funWithFlagTpl() {
+  if (FLAG) {
+    doSomething();
+  } else {
+    doSomethingElse();
+  }
+}
+
+int main() {
+  funWithFlagParam(true);
+  funWithFlagParam(false);
+  funWithFlagTpl<true>();
+  funWithFlagTpl<false>();
+}
diff --git a/templates/helpers.hpp b/templates/helpers.hpp
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..bd6d9fc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/templates/helpers.hpp
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+#pragma once
+
+template <class T>
+void doNotOptimizeAway(T&& datum) {
+  asm volatile("" : "+r" (datum));
+}
+
+__attribute__ ((noinline)) void doSomething() { doNotOptimizeAway(42); }
+__attribute__ ((noinline)) void doSomethingElse() { doNotOptimizeAway(23); }