Re: [boost] Why do many examples lack #includes and namespaces?

2013/12/13 TyRoXx

The first example for Lambda 1.55 is:

list<int> v(10); for_each(v.begin(), v.end(), _1 = 1);

This is not useful at all. The first two question that every new user would ask are:

- which header files do I have to include? - which namespaces are the things from? Is _1 the global that I already know from bind or not?

+1, but I fraze it differently: it would be helpful (not only for beginners) to put the _minimum_ set of #includes in each snippet, and supply namespace information. I find aliasing long namespaces at the beginning of every shown snippet a good idea.

Many libraries' docs have a statement like: "throughout the docs you shoud assume #include and using namespace boost::thislib;". I think this is bad practice in examples, because it's bad practice in general, and examples should also show good style of using the library.

A useful example would be:

#include <list> #include <algorithm> #include

// I'm glad this isn't #include

int main() {

namespace ll = boost::lambda;

std::list<int> v(10);

std::for_each(v.begin(), v.end(), ll::_1 = 1);

}

I mean, it doesn't hurt that much to put the minimum needed #includes and namespace aliases in every snippet. This will not only help beginners, but anyone who wants to copy-paste-modify an example. Could this be made a guidline for Boost docs in general? Regards, Kris