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POHow to have many namespaces while keeping a 'clean' api? namespace composition
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copied!<p><strong>EDIT</strong>: This does not really seem a duplicate to me since <a href="https://stackoverflow.com/questions/41590/how-do-you-properly-use-namespaces-in-c">this question</a> in broader in scope (<em>how to use it</em>). Anyways, the answer to my question does turn out to be there in paercebal's <a href="https://stackoverflow.com/a/81602/1248364">answer</a> and is <strong>namespace composition</strong>. Another related source in SO is this other <a href="https://stackoverflow.com/questions/16871390/why-is-namespace-composition-so-rarely-used">question</a>.</p> <hr> <p>I've been trying to modularize my code using namespaces. Anon's <a href="https://stackoverflow.com/a/713717/1248364">answer</a> to a question on nested namespaces got me wondering whether they should be used for design instead of simply avoiding name clashes.</p> <p>I feel like namespaces (occasionally nested ones) are useful to organize the code, but sure things like <code>world::europe::spain::madrid</code> become cumbersome to use. Therefore, from an API point of view, having most code in the same namespace (just like the <code>std</code> library) works best.</p> <p>My question is then two fold:</p> <ol> <li><p><strong>Should namespaces be used to organize code or simply to avoid name clashes?</strong> and if so</p></li> <li><p><strong>How to have a "complex" namespace structure while keeping the API clean?</strong></p></li> </ol> <p>Regarding question 2, I've been using the following strategy:</p> <p>(1) having some code with its own namespace</p> <pre><code>//mathlib.h namespace mathlib { int sum( int a, int b ) { return a + b; } } </code></pre> <p>(2) and bring it into another namespace</p> <pre><code>//otherlib.h #include <iostream> #include "mathlib.h" namespace otherlib { using namespace mathlib; // lookup stuff inside mathlib void print(int n) { std::cout << "the int is " << n << "!"; } } </code></pre> <p>(3) So I can actually call <code>sum</code> as it were under the <code>otherlib</code> namespace.</p> <pre><code>#include "otherlib.h" int main(){ auto myint = otherlib::sum(1, 2); otherlib::print(myint); return 0; } </code></pre>

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