1*36ac495dSmrg<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="no"?> 2*36ac495dSmrg<!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 Stylesheets Vsnapshot" /><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_dual_abi.html" title="Dual ABI" /><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_dual_abi.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. 3*36ac495dSmrg</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 4*36ac495dSmrgwithin namespace std." This includes namespaces nested 5*36ac495dSmrgwithin namespace <code class="code">std</code>, such as namespace 6*36ac495dSmrg<code class="code">std::chrono</code>. 7*36ac495dSmrg</p></li><li class="listitem"><p>abi</p><p>Specified by the C++ ABI. This ABI specifies a number of type and 8*36ac495dSmrgfunction APIs supplemental to those required by the ISO C++ Standard, 9*36ac495dSmrgbut necessary for interoperability. 10*36ac495dSmrg</p></li><li class="listitem"><p>__gnu_</p><p>Indicating one of several GNU extensions. Choices 11*36ac495dSmrginclude <code class="code">__gnu_cxx</code>, <code class="code">__gnu_debug</code>, <code class="code">__gnu_parallel</code>, 12*36ac495dSmrgand <code class="code">__gnu_pbds</code>. 13*36ac495dSmrg</p></li></ul></div><p> The library uses a number of inline namespaces as implementation 14*36ac495dSmrgdetails that are not intended for users to refer to directly, these include 15*36ac495dSmrg<code class="code">std::__detail</code>, <code class="code">std::__cxx11</code> and <code class="code">std::_V2</code>. 16*36ac495dSmrg</p><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>. 17*36ac495dSmrg</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> 18*36ac495dSmrg One standard requirement is that the library components are defined 19*36ac495dSmrg in <code class="code">namespace std::</code>. Thus, in order to use these types or 20*36ac495dSmrg functions, one must do one of two things: 21*36ac495dSmrg</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 22*36ac495dSmrg(either <code class="code">using namespace std;</code> or i.e. <code class="code">using 23*36ac495dSmrgstd::string;</code>) This approach works well for individual source files, but 24*36ac495dSmrgshould not be used in a global context, like header files. 25*36ac495dSmrg </p></li><li class="listitem"><p>use a <span class="emphasis"><em>fully 26*36ac495dSmrgqualified name</em></span> for each library symbol 27*36ac495dSmrg(i.e. <code class="code">std::string</code>, <code class="code">std::cout</code>) Always can be 28*36ac495dSmrgused, and usually enhanced, by strategic use of typedefs. (In the 29*36ac495dSmrgcases where the qualified verbiage becomes unwieldy.) 30*36ac495dSmrg </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> 31*36ac495dSmrgBest practice in programming suggests sequestering new data or 32*36ac495dSmrgfunctionality in a sanely-named, unique namespace whenever 33*36ac495dSmrgpossible. This is considered an advantage over dumping everything in 34*36ac495dSmrgthe global namespace, as then name look-up can be explicitly enabled or 35*36ac495dSmrgdisabled as above, symbols are consistently mangled without repetitive 36*36ac495dSmrgnaming prefixes or macros, etc. 37*36ac495dSmrg</p><p>For instance, consider a project that defines most of its classes in <code class="code">namespace gtk</code>. It is possible to 38*36ac495dSmrg adapt <code class="code">namespace gtk</code> to <code class="code">namespace std</code> by using a C++-feature called 39*36ac495dSmrg <span class="emphasis"><em>namespace composition</em></span>. This is what happens if 40*36ac495dSmrg a <span class="emphasis"><em>using</em></span>-declaration is put into a 41*36ac495dSmrg namespace-definition: the imported symbol(s) gets imported into the 42*36ac495dSmrg currently active namespace(s). For example: 43*36ac495dSmrg</p><pre class="programlisting"> 44*36ac495dSmrgnamespace gtk 45*36ac495dSmrg{ 46*36ac495dSmrg using std::string; 47*36ac495dSmrg using std::tr1::array; 48*36ac495dSmrg 49*36ac495dSmrg class Window { ... }; 50*36ac495dSmrg} 51*36ac495dSmrg</pre><p> 52*36ac495dSmrg In this example, <code class="code">std::string</code> gets imported into 53*36ac495dSmrg <code class="code">namespace gtk</code>. The result is that use of 54*36ac495dSmrg <code class="code">std::string</code> inside namespace gtk can just use <code class="code">string</code>, without the explicit qualification. 55*36ac495dSmrg As an added bonus, 56*36ac495dSmrg <code class="code">std::string</code> does not get imported into 57*36ac495dSmrg the global namespace. Additionally, a more elaborate arrangement can be made for backwards compatibility and portability, whereby the 58*36ac495dSmrg <code class="code">using</code>-declarations can wrapped in macros that 59*36ac495dSmrg are set based on autoconf-tests to either "" or i.e. <code class="code">using 60*36ac495dSmrg std::string;</code> (depending on whether the system has 61*36ac495dSmrg libstdc++ in <code class="code">std::</code> or not). (ideas from 62*36ac495dSmrg Llewelly and Karl Nelson) 63*36ac495dSmrg</p></div></div><div class="navfooter"><hr /><table width="100%" summary="Navigation footer"><tr><td width="40%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="using_dual_abi.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">Dual ABI </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>