Ok, one more thing about headers, then I promise to talk about something else.
Just because a header file is called a header file, you shouldn’t include all your headers there. Often, a source file, where the definition of you functions and/or classes are, need quite a lot of headers to do its work. It might for instance need <algorithm> to do some sorting or searching, a fact your declarations don’t need to worry about:
processing.hxx
#include "MyType.hxx" void process(MyType obj);
processing.cc
#include "processing.hxx"
#include <algorithm>
void process(MyType obj) {
std::find(...);
std::sort(...);
}
You almost always need to include some headers in the .hxx, so why not put them all there? While compiling your .cc file, it doesn’t really matter, since all those files are included anyway. But when someone else includes your header, they suddenly depend on everything your implementation depends on. This also adds to compilation time for your users. So do your includes as listed above, don’t move #include <algorithm> to the .hxx.
There. I promise to get my head out of the headers, if you promise to order your include directives the right way, dont use using in header files, and only include what's needed for the declarations in the header.
November 9, 2012 at 07:01
[...] have already argued that you shouldn’t put all your includes in your .h files. Here is one more reason, compilation [...]
November 30, 2012 at 07:00
[...] Don't Put All Includes in the .hxx [...]