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| <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" /><title>Namespaces</title><meta name="generator" content="DocBook XSL-NS Stylesheets V1.77.1" /><meta name="keywords" content="ISO C++, library" /><meta name="keywords" content="ISO C++, runtime, library" /><link rel="home" href="../index.html" title="The GNU C++ Library" /><link rel="up" href="using.html" title="Chapter 3. Using" /><link rel="prev" href="using_macros.html" title="Macros" /><link rel="next" href="using_dynamic_or_shared.html" title="Linking" /></head><body><div class="navheader"><table width="100%" summary="Navigation header"><tr><th colspan="3" align="center">Namespaces</th></tr><tr><td width="20%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="using_macros.html">Prev</a> </td><th width="60%" align="center">Chapter 3. Using</th><td width="20%" align="right"> <a accesskey="n" href="using_dynamic_or_shared.html">Next</a></td></tr></table><hr /></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title" style="clear: both"><a id="manual.intro.using.namespaces"></a>Namespaces</h2></div></div></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h3 class="title"><a id="manual.intro.using.namespaces.all"></a>Available Namespaces</h3></div></div></div><p> There are three main namespaces. |
| </p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: disc; "><li class="listitem"><p>std</p><p>The ISO C++ standards specify that "all library entities are defined |
| within namespace std." This includes namespaces nested |
| within <code class="code">namespace std</code>, such as <code class="code">namespace |
| std::tr1</code>. |
| </p></li><li class="listitem"><p>abi</p><p>Specified by the C++ ABI. This ABI specifies a number of type and |
| function APIs supplemental to those required by the ISO C++ Standard, |
| but necessary for interoperability. |
| </p></li><li class="listitem"><p>__gnu_</p><p>Indicating one of several GNU extensions. Choices |
| include <code class="code">__gnu_cxx</code>, <code class="code">__gnu_debug</code>, <code class="code">__gnu_parallel</code>, |
| and <code class="code">__gnu_pbds</code>. |
| </p></li></ul></div><p> A complete list of implementation namespaces (including namespace contents) is available in the generated source <a class="link" href="http://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/libstdc++/latest-doxygen/namespaces.html" target="_top">documentation</a>. |
| </p></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h3 class="title"><a id="manual.intro.using.namespaces.std"></a>namespace std</h3></div></div></div><p> |
| One standard requirement is that the library components are defined |
| in <code class="code">namespace std::</code>. Thus, in order to use these types or |
| functions, one must do one of two things: |
| </p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: disc; "><li class="listitem"><p>put a kind of <span class="emphasis"><em>using-declaration</em></span> in your source |
| (either <code class="code">using namespace std;</code> or i.e. <code class="code">using |
| std::string;</code>) This approach works well for individual source files, but |
| should not be used in a global context, like header files. |
| </p></li><li class="listitem"><p>use a <span class="emphasis"><em>fully |
| qualified name</em></span> for each library symbol |
| (i.e. <code class="code">std::string</code>, <code class="code">std::cout</code>) Always can be |
| used, and usually enhanced, by strategic use of typedefs. (In the |
| cases where the qualified verbiage becomes unwieldy.) |
| </p></li></ul></div></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h3 class="title"><a id="manual.intro.using.namespaces.comp"></a>Using Namespace Composition</h3></div></div></div><p> |
| Best practice in programming suggests sequestering new data or |
| functionality in a sanely-named, unique namespace whenever |
| possible. This is considered an advantage over dumping everything in |
| the global namespace, as then name look-up can be explicitly enabled or |
| disabled as above, symbols are consistently mangled without repetitive |
| naming prefixes or macros, etc. |
| </p><p>For instance, consider a project that defines most of its classes in <code class="code">namespace gtk</code>. It is possible to |
| adapt <code class="code">namespace gtk</code> to <code class="code">namespace std</code> by using a C++-feature called |
| <span class="emphasis"><em>namespace composition</em></span>. This is what happens if |
| a <span class="emphasis"><em>using</em></span>-declaration is put into a |
| namespace-definition: the imported symbol(s) gets imported into the |
| currently active namespace(s). For example: |
| </p><pre class="programlisting"> |
| namespace gtk |
| { |
| using std::string; |
| using std::tr1::array; |
| |
| class Window { ... }; |
| } |
| </pre><p> |
| In this example, <code class="code">std::string</code> gets imported into |
| <code class="code">namespace gtk</code>. The result is that use of |
| <code class="code">std::string</code> inside namespace gtk can just use <code class="code">string</code>, without the explicit qualification. |
| As an added bonus, |
| <code class="code">std::string</code> does not get imported into |
| the global namespace. Additionally, a more elaborate arrangement can be made for backwards compatibility and portability, whereby the |
| <code class="code">using</code>-declarations can wrapped in macros that |
| are set based on autoconf-tests to either "" or i.e. <code class="code">using |
| std::string;</code> (depending on whether the system has |
| libstdc++ in <code class="code">std::</code> or not). (ideas from |
| Llewelly and Karl Nelson) |
| </p></div></div><div class="navfooter"><hr /><table width="100%" summary="Navigation footer"><tr><td width="40%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="using_macros.html">Prev</a> </td><td width="20%" align="center"><a accesskey="u" href="using.html">Up</a></td><td width="40%" align="right"> <a accesskey="n" href="using_dynamic_or_shared.html">Next</a></td></tr><tr><td width="40%" align="left" valign="top">Macros </td><td width="20%" align="center"><a accesskey="h" href="../index.html">Home</a></td><td width="40%" align="right" valign="top"> Linking</td></tr></table></div></body></html> |