CODEWITHSUNDEEP
c++boostinclude
Kam
Kam

Reputation: 6008

Good Practice, in including source files

I am using boost msm library (you don't need to know how it works) to code my statemachine, and i have a cpp source file organization question.

in the first source file (1.cpp) I define the statemachine, the event and the actions and the transition table, but I would like to define the state in another cpp file just because I would need to edit the states much more often then anything else in the statemachine.

Now what I did is that I wrote the states in another source file (2.cpp) and I included 2.cpp in 1.cpp

It compiles and everything, but its not clean at all, Id like to encapsulate this somehow..Any ideas?

Upvotes: 0

Views: 190

Answers (3)

DataPlusPlus
DataPlusPlus

Reputation: 1120

Typically in C++ the definitions of classes and the function prototypes exist in header files (ending in .h or .hpp), with the implementation of functions existing in source files (ending in .cpp or .cxx). This allows you to expose an external interface so that other files can use the definitions used in the first file. You would make function prototypes and class declarations in your header file, and then include that header file in both cpp files.

In general, it is good practice to only include header files, and not include source files in other files.

Upvotes: 2

Abhinav Singh
Abhinav Singh

Reputation: 2651

If i were to write this from scratch (a finite state machine), i will put following inside:

fsm.h:

struct fsm_rule {
  /* state to which this rule belongs to */
  int state;
  /* new state */
  int next;
  /* is called when rule matches */
  int (*fn)(int in, void *ctx);
};

struct fsm_state {
  int nrules;
  struct fsm_rule *rules;
};

struct fsm {
  int nstates;
  struct fsm_state *states;
};

and then inside fsm.c i will go ahead and implement required methods.

PS: Ofcouse fsm.c includes fsm.h

Upvotes: 0

Ed Swangren
Ed Swangren

Reputation: 124652

Well typically you would include only .h files, i.e., the header files that declare types and the functions that you will implement in your associated .cpp file. You should not need to include an implementation file at all. Have you created any header files? Here is a basic example:

// Foo.h
class Foo {
    // note that it is not defined here, only declared
    public void some_function(int i);
};

// Foo.cpp
#include "Foo.h"
#include <iostream>

// implement the function here
void Foo::some_func(int i) {
    std::cout << i;
}

Upvotes: 2

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