THE C++ PROGRAMMER'S DILEMMA

Which one to use?
Which one do you prefer?
Please state your reasons!
Please comment upon this important issue!

There's one left. You have not added .C, that's the one I use.

I don't know which one is correct but in my Uni we were taught to use .cpp and .h for headers (no implementation is in headers except inline functions [limited use of inline functions], just plain declaration)

All of them are correct. All can be found in sources. You use the one you like best.

well surely it's bad to change convention within the same code.. if you're using cpp then surely you should have hpp headers... i'm sure it matters somehow! presumably mara's .C is capital? it has to be very bad practise to use .c for c++

Yes, I use capital .C for C++ and .c for C. Works very good for me.

C, capital c :} ... same as Mara (*nods to the lady...).
But if I *had* to chose from yours (which in my work I naturally won't)
it would be cpp... ;)


Reasons ... Heritage, laziness, the phyical law of cosmic inertia ... :D

Cheers,
Tink

Using capital C is ok if your code is only used on some *nix box, but it won't work on a windows box since path names are not case sensitive (*.c==*.C).

You're right Malicious, but my code runs only on *nixes (it can be moved, but what for...). SO I don't have this problem.

I didn't realize .C was used, and on second thought, it doesn't look that bad either.
However, I can't be that cruel to all the people with inferior OSes, that really have a yen for MY code!

I used .cpp, and reason is it was easiest to write and clearest to read.

But, I'm not sure will you get same results, but try this anyway:
1. Make some simple C++ program (something like 10 lines)
2. Name it first as program.cpp -> gcc ./program.cpp -o A
3. Then name source file as program2.c++ -> gcc ./program2.cpp -o A
4. Sources were identical, but is it just me or ARE programs compiled from .cpp ending heavier (more bits) than those of .c++ ending???

You should use g++ instead of gcc and in point 3 won't work (no such file ).

>Which one to use?
I stick to .cpp, and love it. When I moved from C to C++ (i.e from
structured to OOP, I felt very annoyed at having to name all the
file .cpp as against .c (.c seemed so easy). But gradually got used
to it.

>Which one do you prefer?
always .cpp. No question of .java or .anything or even .C. I love,
eat, breathe, shit cpp.

>Please state your reasons!
Not everything has reasons. I love BMW M3, but can't rationale.

>Please comment upon this important issue!
IMHO, it's not such an important issue, especially on *nix. In M$
windows (VC++), sometimes you have a requrement that your
files be named only .cpp or .cxx, but not in GNU C++.

Rather than wondering what *extentions* people use, I would
ask why kind of programming they do i.e whether OOP or
structured (C).

--Which one to use?
Whatever you want!

--Which one do you prefer?
I really don't have a preference, but I use "cpp" unless I have a good reason not to use it.

--Please state your reasons!
I write code for both Unix/Linux and Windows platforms and sometimes the same code file is used on both. The cpp extension is valid, by default, for both g++ on Linux/Unix and VC6 on Windows. If I used other systems or compilers, I might use another suffix if it was a default across all the systems being used.

Visual C++ generates cpp files and recognizes cpp files as C++ code by default. This can be changed, but is just another step in setting up a project.

GNU Make has builtin rules to compile cpp as C++ code, as well as cc and C. You can add rules for other extensions, but it would add lines to the Makefile.

--Please comment upon this important issue!
Lazy me. One less thing to remember to do when setting up a Makfile or MSVC project.