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quick question about std - efficiency

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Started by agm_ultimatex April 20, 2008 02:42 PM

3 comments, last by NathanRunge 15 years, 12 months ago

agm_ultimatex

191

Author

April 20, 2008 02:42 PM

I remember reading/hearing somewhere here that the line using namespace std; is best avoided, and its better to use std::cout, std::string, etc. Is this true? and if so, would you be able to explain? Thanks.

SiCrane

11,840

April 20, 2008 02:45 PM

It has nothing to do with efficiency. You should never use a using directive or declaration in a header since that can change the meaning of subsequent code; however putting using namespace std in a source file after the headers is fine.

EdR

117

April 20, 2008 03:18 PM

Quote:Original post by agm_ultimatex
I remember reading/hearing somewhere here that the line using namespace std; is best avoided, and its better to use std::cout, std::string, etc. Is this true? and if so, would you be able to explain? Thanks.

Using default namespaces makes for somewhat less readable code, in some people's estimation. It's not a question of efficiency, just cleanliness and readability. I don't subscribe to this notion for any language except C++; C++ needs all the help it can get to remain readable and clean.

http://edropple.com

gregrampage

177

April 20, 2008 04:44 PM

This should give you some more info.