A "source-less" C++ idiom - c++

I am developing a fairly large C++ support library, and have found myself moving towards a header-only approach. In C++ this almost works because you can implement where you define in classes. For templated methods, the implementation has to be in the same file anyway, so I find that it is much easier to just keep the implementation with the definition.
However, there are several times where "sources" must be used. As just one example, circular dependencies sometimes occur and the implementation has to be written outside the class definition. Here is how I am handling it:
//part of libfoo.h
class Bar
{
void CircularDependency(void);
};
#ifdef LIBFOO_COMPILE_INLINE
void Bar::CircularDependency(void)
{
//...
}
#endif
Then the project that uses libfoo would do the following in main.cpp:
//main.cpp
#define LIBFOO_COMPILE_INLINE
#include "libfoo.h"
And in any other .cpp:
//other.cpp
#include "libfoo.h"
The point is that the compile-inline section only gets compiled once (in main.cpp).
And finally my question: is there a name for this idiom or any other projects that work this way? It just seems to be a natural outcome of the implementation and definition being blurred by templating and class methods. And: are there any reasons why this is a bad idea or why it would potentially not scale well?
Quick aside: I know that many coders, with good reason, prefer their headers to resemble interfaces and not implementations, but IMHO documentation generators are better suited to describing interfaces because I like to hide private members all together :-)

You should be able to use the inline keyword if the circular dependency problem is resolved by the time the definition of Bar::CircularDependency() would show up in the libfoo.h header:
//part of libfoo.h
class Bar
{
void CircularDependency(void);
};
// other stuff that 'resolves' the circular dependency
// ...
// ...
inline void Bar::CircularDependency(void)
{
//...
}
That would make your library easier to use (the user wouldn't need to deal with the fact that LIBFOO_COMPILE_INLINE needed to be defined in exactly one place where the header is included).

Circular dependencies are not really a problem as you can forward decalre that functions are inline. I wouldn't really suggest this, though: while the "source-less" approach initially makes it easier to use a library coming from somewhere, it causes longer compile times and tighter coupling between files. In a huge source base this is essentially killing the hOpe to get code build in reasonable times. Sure huge only starts at a couple millions lines of code but who cares about trivial programs...? (and, yes, the place I work at has several tens of millions lines of code being build into single executables)

My reasons for why this is a bad idea.
Increase in compile time
Every individual compilation unit that includes the header should compile all the header files in addition to the source in itself. This would probably increase the compile time and might be frustrating while testing your code, with small changes. One could argue the compiler might optimize it, but IMO it could not optimize it beyond a point.
Bigger code segment
If all the functions are written inline, it means that the compiler has to put all that code wherever the function is called. This is going to blow up the code segment and it would affect the load time of the program and the program would take more memory.
Creates dependency in client code with tight coupling
Whenever you change your implementation, every client should get updated (by re compiling the code). But if the implementation has been put in an independent shared object (.so or .dll), the client should just link to the new shared object.
Also I am not sure why one would do this.
//main.cpp
#define LIBFOO_COMPILE_INLINE
#include "libfoo.h"
If at all one has to do this, (s)he could have simply put the implementation code in main.cpp itself. Anyway, you could define LIBFOO_COMPILE_INLINE only in one compilation unit. Otherwise you will duplicate definitions.
I am actually much interested in developing a idiom to write cohesive template code. Sometime in future, C++ compiler should support writing cohesive templates. By this, I mean the client need not have to recompile the code, whenever template implementation in modified.

Related

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...).

How to speed up C++ compilation

do you have any tips to really speed up a large C++ source code ?
I compiled QT5 with last visual studio 2013 compiler, this took at least 3 hours with intel quad core 3.2GHz, 8GB memory and SSD drive.
What solutions do I have if I want to do this in 30 minutes ?
thanks.
Forward declarations and PIMPL.
example.h:
// no include
class UsedByExample;
class Example
{
// ...
UsedByExample *ptr; // forward declaration is good enough
UsedByExample &ref; // forward declaration is good enough
};
example.cpp:
#include "used_by_example.h"
// ...
UsedByExample object; // need #include
A little known / underused fact is that forward declarations are also good enough for function return values:
class Example;
Example f(); // forward declaration is good enough
Only the code which calls f() and has to operate on the returned Example object actually needs the definition of Example.
The purpose of PIMPL, an idiom depending on forward declarations, is to hide private members completely from outside compilation units. This can thus also reduce compile time.
So, if you have this class:
example.h:
#include "other_class.h"
#include "yet_another_class.h"
#include "and_yet_another_class.h"
class Example
{
// ...
public:
void f();
void g();
private:
OtherClass a;
YetAnotherClass b;
AndYetAnotherClass c;
};
You can actually turn it into two classes, one being the implementation and the other the interface.
example.h:
// no more includes
class ExampleImpl; // forward declaration
class Example
{
// ...
public:
void f();
void g();
private:
ExampleImpl *impl;
};
example_impl.h:
#include "other_class.h"
#include "yet_another_class.h"
#include "and_yet_another_class.h"
class ExampleImpl
{
// ...
void f();
void g();
// ...
OtherClass a;
YetAnotherClass b;
AndYetAnotherClass c;
};
Disadvantages may include higher complexity, memory-management issues and an added layer of indirection.
Use a fast SSD setup. Or even create a ram disk, if suitable on your system.
Project -> Properties -> Configuration Properties -> C/C++ -> General -> Multi-processor Compilation: Yes (/MP)
Tools -> Options -> Projects and Solutions -> Build and Run: and set the maximum number of parallel project builds. (already set to 8 on my system, probably determined on first run of VS2013)
Cut down on the number of dependencies, so that if one part of the code changes, the rest doesn't have to be recompiled. I.e. any .cp/.cpp/.cc file that includes a particular header needs to be recompiled when that header is changed. So forward-declare stuff if you can.
Avoid compiling as much as possible. If there are modules you don't need, leave them out. If you have code that rarely changes, put it in a static library.
Don't use excessive amounts of templates. The compiler has to generate a new copy of each version of the template, and all code for a template goes in the header and needs to be re-read over and over again. That in itself is not a problem, but it is the opposite of forward-declaring, and adds dependencies.
If you have headers that every file uses, and which change rarely, see if you can put them in a precompiled header. A precompiled header is only compiled once and saved in a format specific to the compiler that is fast to read, and so for classes used a lot, can lead to great speed-ups.
Note that this only works with code you have written. For code from third parties, only #2 and #4 can help, but will not improve absolute compile times by much, only reduce the number of times code needs to be analyzed again after you've built it once.
To actually make things faster, your options are more limited. You already have an SSD, so you're probably not hard disk bound anymore, and swapping with an SSD should also be faster, so RAM is probably not the most pressing issue. So you are probably CPU-bound.
There are a couple of options:
1: you can make 1 (or a few) .cpp files that includes lots of cpp files from your project
Then, you compile only those files and ignore the rest.
Advantages:
compilation is a lot faster on one machiene
there should already be tools to generate those files for you. In any case the technology is really simple , you could build a simple script to parse the project files and to compilation units, after that you only need to include those in the project and ignore the rest of the files
Disadvantages:
changing one cpp files will trigger the rebuild that includes that cpp file and for minor changes it takes while loger to compile
you might need to change a bit of code to make it work , it might not work out of the box, for example if you have a function with the same name in two different cpp files you need to change that.
2: use a tool like incredibuild
Advantages:
works out of the box for your project. Install the app and you can already compile your project
compilation is really fast even for small changes
Disadvantages:
is not free
you will need more computers to achieve a speadup
You might find alternatives for option 2 , here is a related question.
Other tips to improve compilation time is to move as much of the code in cpp files and avoid inline declarations. Also extensive use of metaprogramming adds build time.
Simply find your bottleneck, and improve that part of your PC. For example, HDD / SSD performance is often a bottleneck.
On the code side of things, use things like forward declaration to avoiding including headers where possible and thus improve compilation time further.
Don't use templates. Really. If every class you use is templated (and if everything is a class), you have only a single translation unit. Consequently, your build system is powerless to reduce compilation to only the few parts that actually need rebuilding.
If you have a large number of templated classes, but a fair amount of untemplated classes, the situation is not much better: Any templated class that is used in more than one compilation unit has to be compiled several times!
Of course, you don't want to throw out the small, usefull templated helper classes, but for all code you write, you should think twice before you make a template out of it. Especially, you should avoid using templates for complex classes that use five more different templated classes. Your code might actually get a lot more readable from it.
If you want to go radical, write in C. The only thing that compiles faster than that is assembler (thanks for reminding me of that #black).
In addition to what's been said previously, you should avoid things like:
1. dynamic binding. The more it's complex, the more work the compiler will have to do.
2. High levels of optimization: compiling for a certain architecture using optimized code (Ox) takes longer.
Thanks for all your answers.
I have to enable multicores compilation and do some optimizations a little everywhere.
Most of the time cost is because of template.
thanks.

C++ One Header Multiple Sources

I have a large class Foo1:
class Foo {
public:
void apples1();
void apples2();
void apples3();
void oranges1();
void oranges2();
void oranges3();
}
Splitting the class is not an option2, but the foo.cpp file has grown rather large. Are there any major design flaws to keeping the definition of the class in foo.h and splitting the implementation of the functions into foo_apples.cpp and foo_oranges.cpp.
The goal here is purely readability and organization for myself and other developers working on the system that includes this class.
1"Large" means some 4000 lines, not machine-generated.
2Why? Well, apples and oranges are actually categories of algorithms that operate on graphs but use each other quite extensively. They can be separated but due to the research nature of the work, I'm constantly rewiring the way each algorithm works which I found for me does not (in the early stage) jive well with the classic OOP principles.
Are there any major design flaws to keeping the definition of the class in foo.h and splitting the implementation of the functions into foo_apples.cpp and foo_oranges.cpp.
to pick nits: Are there any major design flaws to keeping the declaration of the class in foo.h and splitting the definitions of the methods into foo_apples.cpp and foo_oranges.cpp.
1) apples and oranges may use the same private programs. an example of this would be implementation found in an anonymous namespace.
in that case, one requirement would be to ensure your static data is not multiply defined. inline functions are not really a problem if they do not use static data (although their definitions may be multiply exported).
to overcome those problems, you may then be inclined to utilise storage in the class -- which could introduce dependencies by increasing of data/types which would have otherwise been hidden. in either event, it can increase complexity or force you to write your program differently.
2) it increases complexity of static initialization.
3) it increases compile times
the alternative i use (which btw many devs detest) in really large programs is to create a collection of exported local headers. these headers are visible only to the package/library. in your example, it can be illustrated by creating the following headers: Foo.static.exported.hpp (if needed) + Foo.private.exported.hpp (if needed) + Foo.apples.exported.hpp + Foo.oranges.exported.hpp.
then you would write Foo.cpp like so:
#include "DEPENDENCIES.hpp"
#include "Foo.static.exported.hpp" /* if needed */
#include "Foo.private.exported.hpp" /* if needed */
#include "Foo.apples.exported.hpp"
#include "Foo.oranges.exported.hpp"
/* no definitions here */
you can easily adjust how those files are divided based on your needs. if you write your programs using c++ conventions, there are rarely collisions across huge TUs. if you write like a C programmer (lots of globals, preprocessor abuse, low warning levels and free declarations), then this approach will expose a lot of issues you probably won't care to correct.
From a technical standpoint, there is no penalty to doing this at all, but I have never seen it done in practice. This is simply a issue of style, and in that spirit, if it helps you to better read the class, then you would be doing yourself a disservice by not using multiple source files.
edit: Adding to that though, are you physically scrolling through your source, like, with your middle mouse wheel? As someone else already mentioned, IDE's almost universally let you right click on a function declaration, and go to the definition. And even if that's not the case for your IDE, and you use notepad or something, it will at least have ctrl+f. I would be lost without find and replace.
Yes, you can define the class in one header file and split the function implementations accross multiple source files. It is not usually the common practice but yes it will work and there will be no overheads.
If the aim to do so, is just plain readability, then perhaps it is not a good idea to do so, because it is not so common practice to have class function definitions accross multipls source files and might just confuse someone.
Actually i don't see any reasons to split implementation because other developers should work with the interface, but not the implementation.
Also any normal IDE provide an easy ability to jump from function declaration to it's defenition. So there is no reason to search the function implementations manually.

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.