Subj : Re: Not using .cpp files when programming...
To   : comp.programming
From : alfps
Date : Wed Jul 20 2005 08:59 am

* Arthur J. O'Dwyer:
> 
> On Wed, 20 Jul 2005, Alf P. Steinbach wrote:
> >
> > robertwessel2@yahoo.com wrote:
> >> Or, if you make the member
> >> functions static or inline in the class to avoid the name space problems,
> >
> > Sorry, that's incorrect: neither 'inline' nor 'static' is used to avoid
> > name space problems.
> 
>    Well, last I checked, 'static int foo;' (at file scope) meant an int 
> called 'foo' whose scope didn't extend outside the current compilation 
> unit. So 'static' is definitely used to avoid namespacing problems.

'static' in a class (what the OP referred to) has a very different meaning;
'static' variables at file scope in a header file, which you refer to, isn't
a great idea because every compilation unit gets a copy and because it's
deprecated usage, not guaranteed to survive C++0x; and anyway, that use of
'static' denotes linkage, not namespace and not scope; and just to be
complete here, there's no scope that extends outside the current compilation
unit.  OK?  Insert "sorry"-words etc. at will, I'm just too lazy... ;-)


>    Unless you're talking about the kind of name space problems that
> lead to people calling their variables 'dfjas' instead of 
> 'difference_of_ja_squared'.

Yep, that's what namespaces in C++ address.


> I think that's an IAQ.

AFAIK there's an IAQ for C but no such for C++, and Google elected to be
less than helpful this time  --  could you please elaborate?

-- 
A: Because it messes up the order in which people normally read text.
Q: Why is it such a bad thing?
A: Top-posting.
Q: What is the most annoying thing on usenet and in e-mail?

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