1.

8aNamingconflictsandthestdnamespace
BYALEXO NNO VEMBER6T H,2016| LAST MO DIF IEDBYALEXO NNO VEMBER9T H,2016

Letssayyouaredrivingtoafriendshouseforthefirsttime,andtheaddressgaventoyouis245FrontStreetinMillCity.Upon
reachingMillCity,youpullupyourmap,onlytodiscoverthatMillCityactuallyhastwodifferentFrontStreetsacrosstownfrom
eachother!Whichonewouldyougoto?Unlessthereweresomeadditionalcluetohelpyoudecide(e.g.yourememberhis
houseisnearaparticulardonutshop)youdhavetocallyourfriendandaskformoreinformation.Becausethiswouldbe
confusingandinefficient(particularlyforyourmailman),allstreetnames(andhousenumbers)inacityarerequiredtobeunique.

Similarly,C++requiresthatallidentifiers(variableand/orfunctionnames)benonambiguous.Iftwoidentifiersareintroduced
intothesameprograminawaythatthecompilercanttellthemapart,thecompilerorlinkerwillproduceanerror.Thiserroris
generallyreferredtoasanamingcollision(ornamingconflict).

Anexampleofanamingcollision

a.cpp:

1 #include <iostream>
2
3 void doSomething(int x)
4 {
5 std::cout << x;
6 }

b.cpp:

1 #include <iostream>
2
3 void doSomething(int x)
4 {
5 std::cout << x * 2;
6 }

main.cpp:

1 void doSomething(int x); // forward declaration for doSomething

2
3 int main()
4 {
5 doSomething(5);
6
7 return 0;
8 }

Filesa.cpp,b.cpp,andmain.cppwillallcompilejustfine,sinceindividuallytheresnoproblem.However,whena.cppandb.cpp
areputinthesameprojecttogether,anamingconflictwilloccur,sincethefunctiondoSomething()isdefinedinboth.Thiswill
causealinkererror.

Mostnamingcollisionsoccurintwocases:
1)Twofilesareaddedintothesameprojectthathaveanfunction(orglobalvariable)withthesamename(linkererror).
2)Acodefileincludesaheaderfilethatcontainsaidentifierthatconflictswithsomethingelse(compileerror).Welldiscuss
headerfilesinthenextlesson.

Asprogramsgetlargerandusemoreidentifiers,theoddsofanamingcollisionbeingintroducedincreasessignificantly.The
goodnewsisthatC++providesplentyofmechanismsforavoidingnamingcollisions(suchaslocalscope,whichkeeps
variablesinsidefunctionsfromconflictingwitheachother,andnamespaces,whichwellintroduceshortly),somostofthetime
youwontneedtoworryaboutthis.

Thestdnamespace

WhenC++wasoriginallydesigned,alloftheidentifiersintheC++standardlibrary(suchascinandcout)wereavailabletobe
useddirectly.However,thismeantthatanyidentifierinthestandardlibrarycouldpotentiallyconflictwithanameyoupickedfor
yourownidentifiers.Codethatwasworkingmightsuddenlyhaveanamingconflictwhenyou#includedanewfilefromthe
standardlibrary.Orworse,programsthatwouldcompileunderoneversionofC++mightnotcompileunderafutureversionof
C++,asnewfunctionalityintroducedintothestandardlibrarycouldconflict.SoC++movedallofthefunctionalityinthe
standardlibraryintoaspecialareacalledanamespace.

Muchlikeacityguaranteesthatallroadswithinthecityhaveuniquenames,anamespaceguaranteesthatidentifierswithinthe
namespaceareunique.Thispreventstheidentifiersinanamespacefromconflictingwithotheridentifiers.

Itturnsoutthatstd::coutsnameisntreallystd::cout.Itsactuallyjustcout,andstdisthenameofthenamespaceitlives
inside.AllofthefunctionalityintheC++standardlibraryisdefinedinsideanamespacenamedstd(shortforstandard).Inthis
way,wedonthavetoworryaboutthefunctionalityofthestandardlibraryhavinganamingconflictwithourownidentifiers.

Welltalkmoreaboutnamespacesinafuturelessonandalsoteachyouhowtocreateyourown.Fornow,theonlythingyou
reallyneedtoknowaboutnamespacesisthatwheneverweuseanidentifier(likestd::cout)thatispartofthestandardlibrary,
weneedtotellthecompilerthatthatidentifierlivesinsidethestdnamespace.

Rule:Whenyouuseanidentifierinanamespace,youalwayshavetoidentifythenamespacealongwiththeidentifier

Explicitnamespacequalifierstd::

Themoststraightforwardwaytotellthecompilerthatcoutlivesinthestdnamespaceisbyusingthestd::prefix.For
example:

1 std::cout << "Hello world!";

Thisisthesafestwaytousecout,becausetheresnoambiguityaboutwherecoutlives(itsclearlyinthestdnamespace).

C++providesothershortcutsforindicatingwhatnamespaceanidentifierispartof(viausingstatements).Wecoverthosein
lesson4.3cUsingstatements.

1.9Headerfiles

Index

1.8Programswithmultiplefiles

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9commentsto1.8aNamingconflictsandthestdnamespace

Jim
February8,2016at11:03amReply

Alex,
Thestatementbelowisrealconfusingandmaybeevenmisleading.Arentthereothercontainersinthe
standardlibrarybesides(stdnamespace)?So,stdnamesspaceisjustone(ormaybepartofone)ofthesecontainersisntit?

"Everythinginthestandardlibrarylivesinsideaspecialcontainer(calledanamespace)thatisnamedstd(shortfor
standard)."

Alex
 February9,2016at1:37pmReply

NotthatImawareof.Everythinginthestandardlibrarylivesinsidethestdnamespace.

Perhapstheresabetterwordtousethancontainer.Maybearea?

Jim
February20,2016at2:44pmReply

ThanksAlex,Butitsabithardformetogetmymindaroundexactlywhatnamespaces
are,couldyougiveusabetterdescription?

ThisiskindofdumbbutImsureothershavewonderedaboutthis.Ivegotanotherquestionaboutstd::cin>>
x.Iknowthisputtheuserinputvalueofxintomemory.Butcanyouputanythingelseonthatsamelineof
codebesidesacomment?
Thanks

Alex
February21,2016at11:17amReply

Itshardtodescribenamespacesrightnowbecausewehaventcoveredsomeofthe
languagethatIreallyneedtodescribethemaccurately.Awaytothinkofthemfornow:
Namespacesapplyaprefixtovariableandtypenames.Thisprefixfunctionsmuchlikeyourlastnamein
reallifedoesithelpsensurethateventhoughyoumayhavethesamefirstnameassomeoneelse,you
canstillbeuniquelyidentifiedbyusingbothyournamestogether.Doesthatmakesense?Italkmore
aboutnamespacesinchapter4.

Asforyoursecondquestion,becausethisstatementendsinasemicolon,youcouldputanotherstatement
totherightofthatstatement.However,thatsgenerallyconsideredbadform.Onestatementperlineisthe
recommendedpractice,withanoptionalcommenttotheright(orabove).

Big"B"LuvRRR
March15,2016at10:15amReply

Regardingnamingcollisionsornamingconflicts:couldntwejustcreatenamesthatarepracticallyguaranteed
nottoevercollideorconflicts,justaddinganextra"xy0"totheendofeveryfunctionwemake???

Surelytherecanbenoproblemwitha"coutxy0()"or"cinz()"oranythingsimilarlynamed!Iplanonusingaglobal
namespacedirectiveattheoutsetandnotworryingaboutcollisionsafterwardsbyjustcreatingveryuniquethoughsimple
functionnames.Whatcouldpossiblygowrongwithsuchanapproach,please?

Alex
March17,2016at2:28pmReply

Youcould,butdoingsomakesyourcodehardertoreadandrememberhowtouse(e.g.wasthe
functionnamedcoutxy0()orcoutx0()orcoutxy1()orwhat?).

GeorgesTheodosiou
November10,2016at3:09amReply

MydearTeacher,
pleaseletmesaythatIunderstand"Anexampleofanamingcollision"asfollows:

1 #include <iostream>
2
3 void doSomething(int x)
4 {
5 std::cout << x << std::endl;
6 std::cout << x * 2;
7 }
 8 int main()
9 {
10 doSomething(5);
11
12 return 0;
13 }

Outputis:
5
10
Ibegyourcomments.
Withregardsandfriendship.

Alex
November10,2016at12:42pmReply

Thereisnonamingcollisionhere.Anamingcollisionhappenswhentwoidentifierscantbe
disambiguated.Thisprogramrunsfine.

GeorgesTheodosiou
November12,2016at6:30amReply

Mydearc++Teacher,
Pleaseacceptmymanythanksforyourreply.Ididnotputaandbfilesinsameproject,but
mergetheminsamefile.
Withregardsandfriendship.