On Sunday 27 February 2005 21:52, Jonas Widarsson wrote:
> Can you confirm/deny if I got the following right please:
>
> * definition:
> class headers and function headers, just to let foreign code know what
> should be provided in other linked binary code. Definition also contains
> specialised types. Definition usually goes in files that end with .h
>
> * implementation:
> The inner workings of a class or function, written down i complete detail.
>
> * declaration:
> A small statement which assigns a variable name to a type, or creates an
> object on the heap?

Those are not accurate.

* declaration

A declaration tells the compiler that something exists, elsewhere. Examples:

void foo();  // foo is a function defined (implemented) somewhere else
extern int n;  // n is an integer, probably defined in some other file
class ABC;  // ABC is a class defined elsewhere

You usually put the declaration for every symbol (name) that you want other 
files to be able to use in your .h file. This lets the compiler know that 
those symbols exist, and tells it what sort of thing they are.

* definition

This is the thing that 'creates' the thing. Every definition is also a 
declaration. Examples:

void foo() { abort(); }
int n;
class ABC
{
	int foo;
public:
	ABC();
};
ABC::ABC() { foo(); }

You usually would put the first two of the above in a .cpp file. The 
definition of class ABC usually goes in a .h file, so code in other files can 
use class ABC (with just a declaration of class ABC other code couldn't do 
much more than pass around pointers and references to ABCs).

The definition of class ABC (above) contains a declaration of ABC's default 
constructor, ABC::ABC(), but not its definition. Its definition is below the 
definition of class ABC. You would usually put the definition of a member 
function in a .cpp file. The definition of class ABC also contains the 
definition of ABC's member variable, foo.

Notice how I've been saying "a declaration" but "the definition"? That's 
because you're allowed any number of (consistent) declarations of a symbol, 
but you're only allowed one definition (though what "one definition" means 
varies).

* implementation

This really just means "the way that something is done". So if you talk about 
the implementation of a function, you're talking about the sequence of 
statements in its body, and if you talk about the implementation of a class 
you're talking about its data members, how its member functions work, how it 
interacts with other classes. On a larger scale, you can talk about the 
implementation of a library, and mean how it does whatever it is that it 
does.



So, the usual solution to your problem is to put the definition for your 
templated member function (including the code inside fillBuffer() - its 
implementation) into the .h file. I hope you followed all that.


> BTW, you use the keyword "struct" instead of "class". Why? I thought struct
> only applies to data and not to executable code.

struct and class are very nearly identical from a compiler's point of view. 
The only difference is that in a struct, the default visibility is 'public' 
and in a class the default visibility is 'private'. So the following two code 
snippets have the same meaning to a compiler:

struct Foo : Bar
{
	int n;
};

class Foo : public Bar
{
public:
	int n;
};

To a C++ programmer, a 'struct' will usually mean a collection of data, 
possibly with some member functions, usually with no invariants of its own, 
and a 'class' will usually mean an encapsulated object, with invariants 
(like, "n is less than 10") and methods which maintain those invariants 
(like, "increment n if it's less than 10").
-- 
Thanks,
Richard
 
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