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POInternal typedefs in C++ - good style or bad style?
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  1. POInternal typedefs in C++ - good style or bad style?
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    copied!<p>Something I have found myself doing often lately is declaring typedefs relevant to a particular class inside that class, i.e.</p> <pre><code>class Lorem { typedef boost::shared_ptr&lt;Lorem&gt; ptr; typedef std::vector&lt;Lorem::ptr&gt; vector; // // ... // }; </code></pre> <p>These types are then used elsewhere in the code:</p> <pre><code>Lorem::vector lorems; Lorem::ptr lorem( new Lorem() ); lorems.push_back( lorem ); </code></pre> <p>Reasons I like it:</p> <ul> <li>It reduces the noise introduced by the class templates, <code>std::vector&lt;Lorem&gt;</code> becomes <code>Lorem::vector</code>, etc.</li> <li>It serves as a statement of intent - in the example above, the Lorem class is intended to be reference counted via <code>boost::shared_ptr</code> and stored in a vector.</li> <li>It allows the implementation to change - i.e. if Lorem needed to be changed to be intrusively reference counted (via <code>boost::intrusive_ptr</code>) at a later stage then this would have minimal impact to the code.</li> <li>I think it looks 'prettier' and is arguably easier to read.</li> </ul> <p>Reasons I don't like it:</p> <ul> <li>There are sometimes issues with dependencies - if you want to embed, say, a <code>Lorem::vector</code> within another class but only need (or want) to forward declare Lorem (as opposed to introducing a dependency on its header file) then you end up having to use the explicit types (e.g. <code>boost::shared_ptr&lt;Lorem&gt;</code> rather than <code>Lorem::ptr</code>), which is a little inconsistent.</li> <li>It may not be very common, and hence harder to understand?</li> </ul> <p>I try to be objective with my coding style, so it would be good to get some other opinions on it so I can dissect my thinking a little bit.</p>
 

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