c++ class without header - c++

Ok, so I don't have a problem, but a question:
When using c++, you can transfer class to another file and include it without creating header, like this:
foo.cpp :
#include <iostream>
using namespace std;
class foo
{
public:
string str;
foo(string inStr)
{
str = inStr;
}
void print()
{
cout<<str<<endl;
}
};
main.cpp :
#include "foo.cpp"
using namespace std;
int main()
{
foo Foo("That's a string");
Foo.print();
return 0;
}
So the question is: is this method any worse than using header files? It's much easier and much more clean, but is it any slower, any more bug-inducing etc?
I've searched for this topic for a long time now but I haven't seen a single topic on the internet considering this even an option...

So the question is: is this method any worse than using header files?
You might consider reviewing the central idea of what the "C++ translation unit" is.
In your example, what the preprocessor does is as if it inserts a copy of foo.cpp into an internal copy of main.cpp. The preprocessor does this, not the compiler.
So ... the compiler never sees your code when they were separate files. It is this single, concatenated, 'translation unit' that is submitted to the compiler. There is no magic in .hh nor .cc, except that they fulfill your peer's (or boss's) expectations.
Now think about your question ... the translation unit is neither of your source files, nor any of your system include files, but it is one stream of text, one thing, put together by the preprocessor. So how would it be better or worse?
It's much easier and much more clean,
It can be. I often take this 'different' approach in my 'private' coding efforts.
When I did a quick eval of using gmpxx.h (mpz_class) in factorial, I did indeed take just these kinds of shortcuts, and did not need a .hpp file to properly create my compilation unit. FYI - The factorial of 12345, is more than 45,000 bytes. It is pointless to read the chars, too.
A 'more formal' effort (job, cooperation, etc), I always use header's, and separate compilation, and the building a library of functions useful to the app as part of how things should be done. Especially if I might share this code or contribute to a companies archives. There are too many good reasons for me to describe why I recommend you learn these issues.
but is it any slower, any more bug-inducing etc?
I think not. I think not. There is one compilation unit, and concatenating the parts has to be right, but I think is no more difficult.
I've searched for this topic for a long time now but I haven't seen a single
topic on the internet considering this even an option...
I'm not sure I've ever seen it discussed either. I have acquired the information. The separate compilations and library development are generally perceived to save development time. (Time is money, right?)
Also, a library, and header files, are how you package your success for others to use, how you can improve your value to a team.

There's no semantic difference between naming your files .cpp or .hpp (or .c / .h).
People will be surprised by the #include "foo.cpp", the compiler doesn't care

You've still created a "header file", but you've given it the ".cpp" extension. File extensions are for the programmer, the compiler doesn't care.
From the compiler's point of view, there is no difference between your example and
foo.h :
#include <iostream>
using namespace std;
class foo
{
//...
};
main.cpp :
#include "foo.h"
using namespace std;
int main()
{
// ...
}

A "header file" is just a file that you include at the beginning i.e. the head of another file (technically, headers don't need to be at the beginning and sometimes are not but typically they are, hence the name).
You've simply created a header file named foo.cpp.
Naming header files with extension that is conventionally used for source files is not a good idea. Some IDE's and other tools may erroneously assume that your header is a source file, and therefore attempt to compile as if it were such, wasting resources if nothing else.
Not to mention the confusion it may cause in your colleagues. Source files may have definitions that the C++ standard allows to be defined exactly once (see one definition rule, odr) because source files are not included in other files. If you name your header as if it were a source file, someone might assume that they can have odr definitions there when they can't.

If you ever build some larger project, the two main differences will become clear to you:
If you deliver your code as a library to others, you have to give them all your code - all your IP - instead of only the headers of the exposed classes plus a compiled library.
If you change one letter in any file, you will need to recompile everything. Once compile times for a larger project hits minutes, you will lose a lot of productivity.
Otherwise, of course it works, and the result is the same.

Related

Source code build confusion (preprocessing and linking)

Why is it that during the preprocessing step, the #includes in a main file are only replaced with the contents of the relevant header files (and not the function definitions as well (.cpp files))?
I would think that during this step it should first go into the header files and replace the #includes there with the contents of their associated .cpp files and then and only then go back to replace the #includes in the main file with everything, thus negating the need for any linking (one giant file with everything). Why does it not happen this way?
Why is it that during the preprocessing step, the #includes in a main file are only replaced with the contents of the relevant header files (and not the function definitions as well (.cpp files))?
Simply put, the header files are the only files you've told the preprocessor about. It can't assume the names of the source files, because there could be many source files for any given header. You may be thinking "Hey, why don't I just include the source files?" and I'm here to tell you No! Bad! Besides, who's to say that you have access to the source files in the first place?
The only way for the compiler to know about and compile all of your source files is for you to pass the compiler each source file, have it compile them into objects, and link together those objects into a library or executable.
There's a great difference between compiling and linking:
Pre-processor, Pre-compile-time and Compile-time:
The pre-processor check for # symbol and replaces it with the relevant content eg:
#include <iostream> // the content will be replaced here and this line will be removed
So the content of iostream will be added above.
eg2:
#define PI 3.14 // wherever PI is used in your source file the macro will be expanded replacing each PI with the constant value 3.14
The compiler only checks for syntax errors,functions prototypes... and doesn't care about the body of functions, resulting in an.obj file`.
Link-time:
The linker links these obj files with the relevant libraries, and in this very time functions called must have a definition; without a definition will issue in a link-time error.
Why does it not happen this way?
History and the expectations of experienced programmers, and their experience with bigger programs (see last statements, below)
I would think that during this step it should first go into the header
files and replace the #includes there with the contents of their
associated .cpp files ...
If you accept a job coding in C++, your company will provide to you a coding standard detailing guide lines or rules which you will want to follow, or face defending your choices when you deviate from them.
You might take some time now to look at available coding standards. For example, try studying the Google C++ Style Guide (I don't particularly like or dislike this one, its just easy to remember). A simple google search can also find several coding standards. Adding a 'why conform to coding standard?' to your search might provide some info.
negating the need for any linking (one giant file with everything).
Note: this approach can not eliminate linking with compiler tools or 3rd party provided libraries. I often use -lrt, and -pthread, and some times -lncurses, -lgmp, -lgmpxx, etc.
For now, as an experiment, you can manually achieve the giant file approach (which I often do for my smaller trial and development of private tools).
Consider:
if main.cc has:
#include "./Foo.hh" // << note .hh file
int main(int argc, char* argv[])
{
Foo foo(argc, argv);
foo.show();
...
and Foo.cc has
#include "./Foo.hh" // << note .hh file
// Foo implementation
This is the common pattern (no, not the pattern book pattern), and will require you link together Foo.o and main, which is trivial enough for small builds, but still something more to do.
The 'small'-ness allows you to use #include to create your 'one giant file with everything' easily:
change main to
#include "./Foo.cc" // << note .cc also pulls in .hh
// (prepare for blow back on this idea)
int main(int argc, char* argv[])
{
Foo foo(argc, argv);
foo.show();
...
The compiler sees all the code in one compilation unit. No linking of local .o's needed (but still library linking).
Note, I do not recommend this. Why?
Probably the primary reason is that many of my tools have 100's of objects (ie. 100's of .cc files). That single 'giant' file can be quite giant.
For most development churn (i.e. early bug fixes), ONLY one or TWO of the .cc files gets changes. Recompiling all of the source code can be a big waste of your time, and your compiler's time.
The alternative is what the experience developers have already learned:
A) Compiling the much smaller number of .cc's that have changed (perhaps one or two?),
B) then linking them with the 100's of other .o's that have not changed is much quicker build.
A major key to your productivity is to minimize your edit-compile-debug duration. A and B and a good editor are important to this development iteration.

Are there techniques to greatly improve C++ building time for 3D applications?

There are many slim laptops who are just cheap and great to use. Programming has the advantage of being done in any place where there is silence and comfort, since concentrating for long hours is important factor to be able to do effective work.
I'm kinda old fashioned as I like my statically compiled C or C++, and those languages can be pretty long to compile on those power-constrainted laptops, especially C++11 and C++14.
I like to do 3D programming, and the libraries I use can be large and won't be forgiving: bullet physics, Ogre3D, SFML, not to mention the power hunger of modern IDEs.
There are several solutions to make building just faster:
Solution A: Don't use those large libraries, and come up with something lighter on your own to relieve the compiler. Write appropriate makefiles, don't use an IDE.
Solution B: Set up a building server elsewhere, have a makefile set up on an muscled machine, and automatically download the resulting exe. I don't think this is a casual solution, as you have to target your laptop's CPU.
Solution C: use the unofficial C++ module
???
Any other suggestion ?
Compilation speed is something, that can be really boosted, if you know how to. It is always wise to think carefully about project's design (especially in case of large projects, consisted of multiple modules) and modify it, so compiler can produce output efficiently.
1. Precompiled headers.
Precompiled header is a normal header (.h file), that contains the most common declarations, typedefs and includes. During compilation, it is parsed only once - before any other source is compiled. During this process, compiler generates data of some internal (most likely, binary) format, Then, it uses this data to speed up code generation.
This is a sample:
#pragma once
#ifndef __Asx_Core_Prerequisites_H__
#define __Asx_Core_Prerequisites_H__
//Include common headers
#include "BaseConfig.h"
#include "Atomic.h"
#include "Limits.h"
#include "DebugDefs.h"
#include "CommonApi.h"
#include "Algorithms.h"
#include "HashCode.h"
#include "MemoryOverride.h"
#include "Result.h"
#include "ThreadBase.h"
//Others...
namespace Asx
{
//Forward declare common types
class String;
class UnicodeString;
//Declare global constants
enum : Enum
{
ID_Auto = Limits<Enum>::Max_Value,
ID_None = 0
};
enum : Size_t
{
Max_Size = Limits<Size_t>::Max_Value,
Invalid_Position = Limits<Size_t>::Max_Value
};
enum : Uint
{
Timeout_Infinite = Limits<Uint>::Max_Value
};
//Other things...
}
#endif /* __Asx_Core_Prerequisites_H__ */
In project, when PCH is used, every source file usually contains #include to this file (I don't know about others, but in VC++ this actually a requirement - every source attached to project configured for using PCH, must start with: #include PrecompiledHedareName.h). Configuration of precompiled headers is very platform-dependent and beyond the scope of this answer.
Note one important matter: things, that are defined/included in PCH should be changed only when absolutely necessary - every chnge can cause recompilation of whole project (and other depended modules)!
More about PCH:
Wiki
GCC Doc
Microsoft Doc
2. Forward declarations.
When you don't need whole class definition, forward declare it to remove unnecessary dependencies in your code. This also implicates extensive use of pointers and references when possible. Example:
#include "BigDataType.h"
class Sample
{
protected:
BigDataType _data;
};
Do you really need to store _data as value? Why not this way:
class BigDataType; //That's enough, #include not required
class Sample
{
protected:
BigDataType* _data; //So much better now
};
This is especially profitable for large types.
3. Do not overuse templates.
Meta-programming is a very powerful tool in developer's toolbox. But don't try to use them, when they are not necessary.
They are great for things like traits, compile-time evaluation, static reflection and so on. But they introduce a lot of troubles:
Error messages - if you have ever seen errors caused by improper usage of std:: iterators or containers (especially the complex ones, like std::unordered_map), than you know what is this all about.
Readability - complex templates can be very hard to read/modify/maintain.
Quirks - many techniques, templates are used for, are not so well-known, so maintenance of such code can be even harder.
Compile time - the most important for us now:
Remember, if you define function as:
template <class Tx, class Ty>
void sample(const Tx& xv, const Ty& yv)
{
//body
}
it will be compiled for each exclusive combination of Tx and Ty. If such function is used often (and for many such combinations), it can really slow down compilation process. Now imagine, what will happen, if you start to overuse templating for whole classes...
4. Using PIMPL idiom.
This is a very useful technique, that allows us to:
hide implementation details
speed up code generation
easy updates, without breaking client code
How does it work? Consider class, that contain a lot of data (for example, representing person). It could look like this:
class Person
{
protected:
string name;
string surname;
Date birth_date;
Date registration_date;
string email_address;
//and so on...
};
Our application evolves and we need to extend/change Person definition. We add some new fields, remove others... and everything crashes: size of Person changes, names of fields change... cataclysm. In particular, every client code, that depends on Person's definition needs to be changed/updated/fixed. Not good.
But we can do it the smart way - hide the details of Person:
class Person
{
protected:
class Details;
Details* details;
};
Now, we do few nice things:
client cannot create code, that depends on how Person is defined
no recompilation needed as long as we don't modify public interface used by client code
we reduce the compilation time, because definitions of string and Date no longer need to be present (in previous version, we had to include appropriate headers for these types, that adds additional dependencies).
5. #pragma once directive.
Although it may give no speed boost, it is clearer and less error-prone. It is basically the same thing as using include guards:
#ifndef __Asx_Core_Prerequisites_H__
#define __Asx_Core_Prerequisites_H__
//Content
#endif /* __Asx_Core_Prerequisites_H__ */
It prevents from multiple parses of the same file. Although #pragma once is not standard (in fact, no pragma is - pragmas are reserved for compiler-specific directives), it is quite widely supported (examples: VC++, GCC, CLang, ICC) and can be used without worrying - compilers should ignore unknown pragmas (more or less silently).
6. Unnecessary dependencies elimination.
Very important point! When code is being refactored, dependencies often change. For example, if you decide to do some optimizations and use pointers/references instead of values (vide point 2 and 4 of this answer), some includes can become unnecessary. Consider:
#include "Time.h"
#include "Day.h"
#include "Month.h"
#include "Timezone.h"
class Date
{
protected:
Time time;
Day day;
Month month;
Uint16 year;
Timezone tz;
//...
};
This class has been changed to hide implementation details:
//These are no longer required!
//#include "Time.h"
//#include "Day.h"
//#include "Month.h"
//#include "Timezone.h"
class Date
{
protected:
class Details;
Details* details;
//...
};
It is good to track such redundant includes, either using brain, built-in tools (like VS Dependency Visualizer) or external utilities (for example, GraphViz).
Visual Studio has also a very nice option - if you click with RMB on any file, you will see an option 'Generate Graph of include files' - it will generated a nice, readable graph, that can be easily analyzed and used to track unnecessary dependencies.
Sample graph, generated inside my String.h file:
As Mr. Yellow indicated in a comment, one of the best ways to improve compile times is to pay careful attention to your use of header files. In particular:
Use precompiled headers for any header that you don't expect to change including operating system headers, third party library headers, etc.
Reduce the number of headers included from other headers to the minimum necessary.
Determine whether a include is needed in the header or whether it can be moved to cpp file. This sometimes causes a ripple effect because someone else was depending on you to include the header for it, but it is better in the long term to move the include to the place where it's actually needed.
Using forward declared classes, etc. can often eliminate the need to include the header in which that class is declared. Of course, you still need to include the header in the cpp file, but that only happens once, as opposed to happening every time the corresponding header file is included.
Use #pragma once (if it is supported by your compiler) rather than include guard symbols. This means the compiler does not even need to open the header file to discover the include guard. (Of course many modern compilers figure that out for you anyway.)
Once you have your header files under control, check your make files to be sure you no longer have unnecessary dependencies. The goal is to rebuild everything you need to, but no more. Sometimes people err on the side of building too much because that is safer than building too little.
If you've tried all of the above, there's a commercial product that does wonders, assuming you have some available PCs on your LAN. We used to use it at a previous job. It's called Incredibuild (www.incredibuild.com) and it shrunk our build time from over an hour (C++) to about 10 minutes. From their website:
IncrediBuild accelerates build time through efficient parallel computing. By harnessing idle CPU resources on the network, IncrediBuild transforms a network of PCs and servers into a private computing cloud that can best be described as a “virtual supercomputer.” Processes are distributed to remote CPU resources for parallel processing, dramatically shortening build time up by to 90% or more.
Another point that's not mentioned in the other answers: Templates. Templates can be a nice tool, but they have fundamental drawbacks:
The template, and all the templates it depends upon, must be included. Forward declarations don't work.
Template code is frequently compiled several times. In how many .cpp files do you use an std::vector<>? That is how many times your compiler will need to compile it!
(I'm not advocating against the use of std::vector<>, on the contrary you should use it frequently; it's simply an example of a really frequently used template here.)
When you change the implementation of a template, you must recompile everything that uses that template.
With template heavy code, you often have relatively few compilation units, but each of them is huge. Of course, you can go all-template and have only a single .cpp file that pulls in everything. This would avoid multiple compiling of template code, however it renders make useless: any compilation will take as long as a compilation after a clean.
I would recommend going the opposite direction: Avoid template-heavy or template-only libraries, and avoid creating complex templates. The more interdependent your templates become, the more repeated compilation is done, and the more .cpp files need to be rebuilt when you change a template. Ideally any template you have should not make use of any other template (unless that other template is std::vector<>, of course...).

Should I use a single header to include all static library headers?

I have a static library that I am building in C++. I have separated it into many header and source files. I am wondering if it's better to include all of the headers that a client of the library might need in one header file that they in turn can include in their source code or just have them include only the headers they need? Will that cause the code to be unecessary bloated? I wasn't sure if the classes or functions that don't get used will still be compiled into their products.
Thanks for any help.
Keep in mind that each source file that you compile involves an independent invocation of the compiler. With each invocation, the compiler has to read in every included header file, parse through it, and build up a symbol table.
When you use one of these "include the world" header files in lots of your source files, it can significantly impact your build time.
There are ways to mitigate this; for example, Microsoft has a precompiled header feature that essentially saves out the symbol table for subsequent compiles to use.
There is another consideration though. If I'm going to use your WhizzoString class, I shouldn't have to have headers installed for SOAP, OpenGL, and what have you. In fact, I'd rather that WhizzoString.h only include headers for the types and symbols that are part of the public interface (i.e., the stuff that I'm going to need as a user of your class).
As much as possible, you should try to shift includes from WhizzoString.h to WhizzoString.cpp:
OK:
// Only include the stuff needed for this class
#include "foo.h" // Foo class
#include "bar.h" // Bar class
public class WhizzoString
{
private Foo m_Foo;
private Bar * m_pBar;
.
.
.
}
BETTER:
// Only include the stuff needed by the users of this class
#include "foo.h" // Foo class
class Bar; // Forward declaration
public class WhizzoString
{
private Foo m_Foo;
private Bar * m_pBar;
.
.
.
}
If users of your class never have to create or use a Bar type, and the class doesn't contain any instances of Bar, then it may be sufficient to provide only a forward declaration of Bar in the header file (WhizzoString.cpp will have #include "bar.h"). This means that anyone including WhizzoString.h could avoid including Bar.h and everything that it includes.
In general, when linking the final executable, only the symbols and functions that are actually used by the program will be incorporated. You pay only for what you use. At least that's how the GCC toolchain appears to work for me. I can't speak for all toolchains.
If the client will always have to include the same set of header files, then it's okay to provide a "convience" header file that includes others. This is common practice in open-source libraries. If you decide to provide a convenience header, make it so that the client can also choose to include specifically what is needed.
To reduce compile times in large projects, it's common practice to include the least amount of headers as possible to make a unit compile.
what about giving both choices:
#include <library.hpp> // include everything
#include <library/module.hpp> // only single module
this way you do not have one huge include file, and for your separate files, they are stacked neatly in one directory
It depends on the library, and how you've structured it. Remember that header files for a library, and which pieces are in which header file, are essentially part of the API of the library. So, if you lead your clients to carefully pick and choose among your headers, then you will need to support that layout for a long time. It is fairly common for libraries to export their whole interface via one file, or just a few files, if some part of the API is truly optional and large.
A consideration should be compilation time: If the client has to include two dozen files to use your library, and those includes have internal includes, it can significantly increase compilation time in a big project, if used often. If you go this route, be sure all your includes have proper include guards around not only the file contents, but the including line as well. Though note: Modern GCC does a very good job of this particular issue and only requires the guards around the header's contents.
As to bloating the final compiled program, it depends on your tool chain, and how you compiled the library, not how the client of the library included header files. (With the caveat that if you declare static data objects in the headers, some systems will end up linking in the objects that define that data, even if the client doesn't use it.)
In summary, unless it is a very big library, or a very old and cranky tool chain, I'd tend to go with the single include. To me, freezing your current implementation's division into headers into the library's API is bigger worry than the others.
The problem with single file headers is explained in detail by Dr. Dobbs, an expert compiler writer. NEVER USE A SINGLE FILE HEADER!!! Each time a header is included in a .cc/.cpp file it has to be recompiled because you can feed the file macros to alter the compiled header. For this reason, a single header file will dramatically increase compile time without providing any benifit. With C++ you should optimize for human time first, and compile time is human time. You should never, because it dramatically increases compile time, include more than you need to compile in any header, each translation unit(TU) should have it's own implementation (.cc/.cpp) file, and each TU named with unique filenames;.
In my decade of C++ SDK development experience, I religiously ALWAYS have three files in EVERY module. I have a config.h that gets included into almost every header file that contains prereqs for the entire module such as platform-config and stdint.h stuff. I also have a global.h file that includes all of the header files in the module; this one is mostly for debugging (hint enumerate your seams in the global.h file for better tested and easier to debug code). The key missing piece here is that ou should really have a public.h file that includes ONLY your public API.
In libraries that are poorly programmed, such as boost and their hideous lower_snake_case class names, they use this half-baked worst practice of using a detail (sometimes named 'impl') folder design pattern to "conceal" their private interface. There is a long background behind why this is a worst practice, but the short story is that it creates an INSANE amount of redundant typing that turns one-liners into multi-liners, and it's not UML compliant and it messes up the UML dependency diagram resulting in overly complicated code and inconsistent design patterns such as children actually being parents and vice versa. You don't want or need a detail folder, you need to use a public.h header with a bunch of sibling modules WITHOUT ADDITIONAL NAMESPACES where your detail is a sibling and not a child that is in reatliy a parent. Namespaces are supposed to be for one thing and one thing only: to interface your code with other people's code, but if it's your code you control it and you should use unique class and funciton names because it's bad practice to use a namesapce when you don't need to because it may cause hash table collision that slow downt he compilation process. UML is the best pratice, so if you can organize your headers so they are UML compliant then your code is by definition more robust and portable. A public.h file is all you need to expose only the public API; thanks.

Is it worth forward-declaring library classes?

I've just started learning Qt, using their tutorial. I'm currently on tutorial 7, where we've made a new LCDRange class. The implementation of LCDRange (the .cpp file) uses the Qt QSlider class, so in the .cpp file is
#include <QSlider>
but in the header is a forward declaration:
class QSlider;
According to Qt,
This is another classic trick, but one that's much less used often. Because we don't need QSlider in the interface of the class, only in the implementation, we use a forward declaration of the class in the header file and include the header file for QSlider in the .cpp file.
This makes the compilation of big projects much faster, because the compiler usually spends most of its time parsing header files, not the actual source code. This trick alone can often speed up compilations by a factor of two or more.
Is this worth doing? It seems to make sense, but it's one more thing to keep track of - I feel it would be much simpler just to include everything in the header file.
Absolutely. The C/C++ build model is ...ahem... an anachronism (to say the best). For large projects it becomes a serious PITA.
As Neil notes correctly, this should not be the default approach for your class design, don't go out of your way unless you really need to.
Breaking Circular include references is the one reason where you have to use forward declarations.
// a.h
#include "b.h"
struct A { B * a; }
// b.h
#include "a.h" // circlular include reference
struct B { A * a; }
// Solution: break circular reference by forward delcaration of B or A
Reducing rebuild time - Imagine the following code
// foo.h
#include <qslider>
class Foo
{
QSlider * someSlider;
}
now every .cpp file that directly or indirectly pulls in Foo.h also pulls in QSlider.h and all of its dependencies. That may be hundreds of .cpp files! (Precompiled headers help a bit - and sometimes a lot - but they turn disk/CPU pressure in memory/disk pressure, and thus are soon hitting the "next" limit)
If the header requires only a reference declaration, this dependency can often be limited to a few files, e.g. foo.cpp.
Reducing incremental build time - The effect is even more pronounced, when dealing with your own (rather than stable library) headers. Imagine you have
// bar.h
#include "foo.h"
class Bar
{
Foo * kungFoo;
// ...
}
Now if most of your .cpp's need to pull in bar.h, they also indirectly pull in foo.h. Thus, every change of foo.h triggers build of all these .cpp files (which might not even need to know Foo!). If bar.h uses a forward declaration for Foo instead, the dependency on foo.h is limited to bar.cpp:
// bar.h
class Foo;
class Bar
{
Foo * kungFoo;
// ...
}
// bar.cpp
#include "bar.h"
#include "foo.h"
// ...
It is so common that it is a pattern - the PIMPL pattern. It's use is two-fold: first it provides true interface/implementation isolation, the other is reducing build dependencies. In practice, I'd weight their usefulness 50:50.
You need a reference in the header, you can't have a direct instantiation of the dependent type. This limits the cases where forward declarations can be applied. If you do it explicitely, it is common to use a utility class (such as boost::scoped_ptr) for that.
Is Build Time worth it? Definitely, I'd say. In the worst case build time grows polynomial with the number of files in the project. other techniques - like faster machines and parallel builds - can provide only percentage gains.
The faster the build, the more often developers test what they did, the more often unit tests run, the faster build breaks can be found fixed, and less often developers end up procrastinating.
In practice, managing your build time, while essential on a large project (say, hundreds of source files), it still makes a "comfort difference" on small projects. Also, adding improvements after the fact is often an exercise in patience, as a single fix might shave off only seconds (or less) of a 40 minute build.
I use it all the time. My rule is if it doesn't need the header, then i put a forward declaration ("use headers if you must, use forward declarations if you can"). The only thing that sucks is that i need to know how the class was declared (struct/class, maybe if it is a template i need its parameters, ...). But in the vast majority of times, it just comes down to "class Slider;" or something along that. If something requires some more hassle to be just declared, one can always declare a special forward declare header like the Standard does with iosfwd too.
Not including the header file will not only reduce compile time but also will avoid polluting the namespace. Files including the header will thank you for including as little as possible so they can keep using a clean environment.
This is the rough plan:
/* --- --- --- Y.hpp */
class X;
class Y {
X *x;
};
/* --- --- --- Y.cpp */
#include <x.hpp>
#include <y.hpp>
...
There are smart pointers that are specifically designed to work with pointers to incomplete types. One very well known one is boost::shared_ptr.
Yes, it sure does help. Another thing to add to your repertoire is precompiled headers if you are worried about compilation time.
Look up FAQ 39.12 and 39.13
The standard library does this for some of the iostream classes in the standard header <iosfwd>. However, it is not a generally applicable technique - notice there are no such headers for the other standard library types, and it should not (IMHO) be your default approach to designing class heirarchies.
Although this eems to be a favourite "optimisation" for programmers, I suspect that like most optimisations, few of them have actually timed the build of their projects both with and without such declarations. My limited experiments in this area indicate that the use of pre-compiled headers in modern compilers makes it unecessary.
There is a HUGE difference in compile times for larger projects, even ones with carefully managed dependencies. You better get the habit of forward declaring and keep as much as possible out of header files, because at a lot of software shops which uses C++ it's required. The reason for why you don't see it all that much in the standard header files is because those make heavy use of templates, at which point forward declaring becomes hard. For MSVC you can use /P to take a look at how the preprocessed file looks before actual compilation. If you haven't done any forward declaration in your project it would probably be an interesting experience to see how much extra processing needs to be done.
In general, no.
I used to forward declare as much as I could, but no longer.
As far as Qt is concerned, you may notice that there is a <QtGui> include file that will pull in all the GUI Widgets. Also, there is a <QtCore>, <QtWebKit>, <QtNetwork> etc. There's a header file for each module. It seems the Qt team believes this is the preferred method also. They say so in their module documentation.
True, the compilation time may be increased. But in my experience its just not that much. And if it were, using precompiled headers would be the next step.
When you write ...
include "foo.h"
... you thereby instruct a conventional build system "Any time there is any change whatsover in the library file foo.h, discard this compilation unit and rebuild it, even if all that happened to foo.h was the addition of a comment, or the addition of a comment to some file which foo.h includes; even if all that happened was some ultra-fastidious colleague re-balanced the curly braces; even if nothing happened other than a pressured colleague checked in foo.h unchanged and inadvertently changed its timestamp."
Why would you want to issue such a command? Library headers, because in general they have more human readers than application headers, have a special vulnerability to changes that have no impact on the binary, such as improved documentation of functions and arguments or the bump of a version number or copyright date.
The C++ rules allow namespace to be re-opened at any point in a compilation unit (unlike a struct or class) in order to support forward declaration.
Forward declarations are very useful for breaking the circular dependencies, and sometimes may be ok to use with your own code, but using them with library code may break the program on another platform or with other versions of the library (this will happen even with your code if you're not careful enough). IMHO not worth it.

Is it a good practice to place C++ definitions in header files?

My personal style with C++ has always to put class declarations in an include file, and definitions in a .cpp file, very much like stipulated in Loki's answer to C++ Header Files, Code Separation. Admittedly, part of the reason I like this style probably has to do with all the years I spent coding Modula-2 and Ada, both of which have a similar scheme with specification files and body files.
I have a coworker, much more knowledgeable in C++ than I, who is insisting that all C++ declarations should, where possible, include the definitions right there in the header file. He's not saying this is a valid alternate style, or even a slightly better style, but rather this is the new universally-accepted style that everyone is now using for C++.
I'm not as limber as I used to be, so I'm not really anxious to scrabble up onto this bandwagon of his until I see a few more people up there with him. So how common is this idiom really?
Just to give some structure to the answers: Is it now The Way™, very common, somewhat common, uncommon, or bug-out crazy?
Your coworker is wrong, the common way is and always has been to put code in .cpp files (or whatever extension you like) and declarations in headers.
There is occasionally some merit to putting code in the header, this can allow more clever inlining by the compiler. But at the same time, it can destroy your compile times since all code has to be processed every time it is included by the compiler.
Finally, it is often annoying to have circular object relationships (sometimes desired) when all the code is the headers.
Bottom line, you were right, he is wrong.
EDIT: I have been thinking about your question. There is one case where what he says is true. templates. Many newer "modern" libraries such as boost make heavy use of templates and often are "header only." However, this should only be done when dealing with templates as it is the only way to do it when dealing with them.
EDIT: Some people would like a little more clarification, here's some thoughts on the downsides to writing "header only" code:
If you search around, you will see quite a lot of people trying to find a way to reduce compile times when dealing with boost. For example: How to reduce compilation times with Boost Asio, which is seeing a 14s compile of a single 1K file with boost included. 14s may not seem to be "exploding", but it is certainly a lot longer than typical and can add up quite quickly when dealing with a large project. Header only libraries do affect compile times in a quite measurable way. We just tolerate it because boost is so useful.
Additionally, there are many things which cannot be done in headers only (even boost has libraries you need to link to for certain parts such as threads, filesystem, etc). A Primary example is that you cannot have simple global objects in header only libs (unless you resort to the abomination that is a singleton) as you will run into multiple definition errors. NOTE: C++17's inline variables will make this particular example doable in the future.
As a final point, when using boost as an example of header only code, a huge detail often gets missed.
Boost is library, not user level code. so it doesn't change that often. In user code, if you put everything in headers, every little change will cause you to have to recompile the entire project. That's a monumental waste of time (and is not the case for libraries that don't change from compile to compile). When you split things between header/source and better yet, use forward declarations to reduce includes, you can save hours of recompiling when added up across a day.
The day C++ coders agree on The Way, lambs will lie down with lions, Palestinians will embrace Israelis, and cats and dogs will be allowed to marry.
The separation between .h and .cpp files is mostly arbitrary at this point, a vestige of compiler optimizations long past. To my eye, declarations belong in the header and definitions belong in the implementation file. But, that's just habit, not religion.
Code in headers is generally a bad idea since it forces recompilation of all files that includes the header when you change the actual code rather than the declarations. It will also slow down compilation since you'll need to parse the code in every file that includes the header.
A reason to have code in header files is that it's generally needed for the keyword inline to work properly and when using templates that's being instanced in other cpp files.
What might be informing you coworker is a notion that most C++ code should be templated to allow for maximum usability. And if it's templated, then everything will need to be in a header file, so that client code can see it and instantiate it. If it's good enough for Boost and the STL, it's good enough for us.
I don't agree with this point of view, but it may be where it's coming from.
I think your co-worker is smart and you are also correct.
The useful things I found that putting everything into the headers is that:
No need for writing & sync headers and sources.
The structure is plain and no circular dependencies force the coder to make a "better" structure.
Portable, easy to embedded to a new project.
I do agree with the compiling time problem, but I think we should notice that:
The change of source file are very likely to change the header files which leads to the whole project be recompiled again.
Compiling speed is much faster than before. And if you have a project to be built with a long time and high frequency, it may indicates that your project design has flaws. Seperate the tasks into different projects and module can avoid this problem.
Lastly I just wanna support your co-worker, just in my personal view.
Often I'll put trivial member functions into the header file, to allow them to be inlined. But to put the entire body of code there, just to be consistent with templates? That's plain nuts.
Remember: A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds.
As Tuomas said, your header should be minimal. To be complete I will expand a bit.
I personally use 4 types of files in my C++ projects:
Public:
Forwarding header: in case of templates etc, this file get the forwarding declarations that will appear in the header.
Header: this file includes the forwarding header, if any, and declare everything that I wish to be public (and defines the classes...)
Private:
Private header: this file is a header reserved for implementation, it includes the header and declares the helper functions / structures (for Pimpl for example or predicates). Skip if unnecessary.
Source file: it includes the private header (or header if no private header) and defines everything (non-template...)
Furthermore, I couple this with another rule: Do not define what you can forward declare. Though of course I am reasonable there (using Pimpl everywhere is quite a hassle).
It means that I prefer a forward declaration over an #include directive in my headers whenever I can get away with them.
Finally, I also use a visibility rule: I limit the scopes of my symbols as much as possible so that they do not pollute the outer scopes.
Putting it altogether:
// example_fwd.hpp
// Here necessary to forward declare the template class,
// you don't want people to declare them in case you wish to add
// another template symbol (with a default) later on
class MyClass;
template <class T> class MyClassT;
// example.hpp
#include "project/example_fwd.hpp"
// Those can't really be skipped
#include <string>
#include <vector>
#include "project/pimpl.hpp"
// Those can be forward declared easily
#include "project/foo_fwd.hpp"
namespace project { class Bar; }
namespace project
{
class MyClass
{
public:
struct Color // Limiting scope of enum
{
enum type { Red, Orange, Green };
};
typedef Color::type Color_t;
public:
MyClass(); // because of pimpl, I need to define the constructor
private:
struct Impl;
pimpl<Impl> mImpl; // I won't describe pimpl here :p
};
template <class T> class MyClassT: public MyClass {};
} // namespace project
// example_impl.hpp (not visible to clients)
#include "project/example.hpp"
#include "project/bar.hpp"
template <class T> void check(MyClass<T> const& c) { }
// example.cpp
#include "example_impl.hpp"
// MyClass definition
The lifesaver here is that most of the times the forward header is useless: only necessary in case of typedef or template and so is the implementation header ;)
To add more fun you can add .ipp files which contain the template implementation (that is being included in .hpp), while .hpp contains the interface.
As apart from templatized code (depending on the project this can be majority or minority of files) there is normal code and here it is better to separate the declarations and definitions. Provide also forward-declarations where needed - this may have effect on the compilation time.
Generally, when writing a new class, I will put all the code in the class, so I don't have to look in another file for it.. After everything is working, I break the body of the methods out into the cpp file, leaving the prototypes in the hpp file.
I personally do this in my header files:
// class-declaration
// inline-method-declarations
I don't like mixing the code for the methods in with the class as I find it a pain to look things up quickly.
I would not put ALL of the methods in the header file. The compiler will (normally) not be able to inline virtual methods and will (likely) only inline small methods without loops (totally depends on the compiler).
Doing the methods in the class is valid... but from a readablilty point of view I don't like it. Putting the methods in the header does mean that, when possible, they will get inlined.
I think that it's absolutely absurd to put ALL of your function definitions into the header file. Why? Because the header file is used as the PUBLIC interface to your class. It's the outside of the "black box".
When you need to look at a class to reference how to use it, you should look at the header file. The header file should give a list of what it can do (commented to describe the details of how to use each function), and it should include a list of the member variables. It SHOULD NOT include HOW each individual function is implemented, because that's a boat load of unnecessary information and only clutters the header file.
If this new way is really The Way, we might have been running into different direction in our projects.
Because we try to avoid all unnecessary things in headers. That includes avoiding header cascade. Code in headers will propably need some other header to be included, which will need another header and so on. If we are forced to use templates, we try avoid littering headers with template stuff too much.
Also we use "opaque pointer"-pattern when applicable.
With these practices we can do faster builds than most of our peers. And yes... changing code or class members will not cause huge rebuilds.
I put all the implementation out of the class definition. I want to have the doxygen comments out of the class definition.
IMHO, He has merit ONLY if he's doing templates and/or metaprogramming. There's plenty of reasons already mentioned that you limit header files to just declarations. They're just that... headers. If you want to include code, you compile it as a library and link it up.
Doesn't that really depends on the complexity of the system, and the in-house conventions?
At the moment I am working on a neural network simulator that is incredibly complex, and the accepted style that I am expected to use is:
Class definitions in classname.h
Class code in classnameCode.h
executable code in classname.cpp
This splits up the user-built simulations from the developer-built base classes, and works best in the situation.
However, I'd be surprised to see people do this in, say, a graphics application, or any other application that's purpose is not to provide users with a code base.
Template code should be in headers only. Apart from that all definitions except inlines should be in .cpp. The best argument for this would be the std library implementations which follow the same rule. You would not disagree the std lib developers would be right regarding this.
I think your co-worker is right as long as he does not enter in the process to write executable code in the header.
The right balance, I think, is to follow the path indicated by GNAT Ada where the .ads file gives a perfectly adequate interface definition of the package for its users and for its childs.
By the way Ted, have you had a look on this forum to the recent question on the Ada binding to the CLIPS library you wrote several years ago and which is no more available (relevant Web pages are now closed). Even if made to an old Clips version, this binding could be a good start example for somebody willing to use the CLIPS inference engine within an Ada 2012 program.