Hello!

In MS Visual C++ 4.2 the STL library is integrated into the environment,
thats good. But there are a couple of things that I don't understand. I
hope someone would like to help me:

1. Why have all standard file names, such as, iostream.h, vector.h and
so on been replaced with filenames as iostream and vector?

2. Why is the .h removed from the file name?

3. Is there a new standard that says that all standard files should not
have a .h extension or is this a Microsoft thing.

4. How do I solve the problem with bool if I prefer to use the HP STL.
There will be conflicts between the STL file bool.h and the reserved
bool in VC4.2

Regards

Stefan Lundmark  via Arne Mohlin

email: stefan.lundmark@comator.se
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Arne Mohlin wrote:
> In MS Visual C++ 4.2 the STL library is integrated into the environment,
> thats good. But there are a couple of things that I don't understand. I
> hope someone would like to help me:
>
> 1. Why have all standard file names, such as, iostream.h, vector.h and
> so on been replaced with filenames as iostream and vector?
>
> 2. Why is the .h removed from the file name?
>
> 3. Is there a new standard that says that all standard files should not
> have a .h extension or is this a Microsoft thing.

The last time I check the ANSI C++ draft all header files
are to lose the .h.  This will allow the compiler to map, for example,
#include <strstream> to whatever filename (such as strstrea.h for
8.3 systems of strstream.h for OS's that support long file names).

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In article <3208750D.798D@comator.se> Arne Mohlin
<arne.mohlin@comator.se> writes:

|> In MS Visual C++ 4.2 the STL library is integrated into the environment,
|> thats good. But there are a couple of things that I don't understand. I
|> hope someone would like to help me:

|> 1. Why have all standard file names, such as, iostream.h, vector.h and
|> so on been replaced with filenames as iostream and vector?

|> 2. Why is the .h removed from the file name?

|> 3. Is there a new standard that says that all standard files should not
|> have a .h extension or is this a Microsoft thing.

In the draft standard, none of the include names have a .h.  This is, I
believe, because there was no agreement as to what the ending should be;
I have seen both .h and .hpp, and I've not seen a lot of different
environments.

The idea behind the compromise was that the implementor would continue
to map the old name to the new.  In addition, there is the question of
namespaces: people using the old filenames are also not using "using",
and so will not "see" the contents of the new files.  Thus, a
responsible vendor, concerned with not breaking his customer's code,
would also provide a file with the old name, which includes the new
name, and makes the necessary "using" declarations to make all of the
contents visible.

My impression at present is that the list of responsible vendors is
incredibly small:-).  (Of course, more may appear.  IMHO, responsible
vendors are not rushing to adopt new features until the draft has
stabilized somewhat anyway, so the problem has not yet presented
itself.)

|> 4. How do I solve the problem with bool if I prefer to use the HP STL.
|> There will be conflicts between the STL file bool.h and the reserved
|> bool in VC4.2

Either edit the HP STL sources to remove the include, or substitute an
empty file for bool.h.
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