Question

Assuming that I have 3 source files for an exe in C. Is it a good practice to include headers like stdio in all the three and also in the source file which contains the main() function?

If NO then what is the normal practice.

I read an article which says the header should contain all the definitions of the structures, #defines etc. But I not sure about including other standard headers.

Any suggestions is appreciated!

Answer 1

Include only headers, you need. And no others.

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Including additional headers, that are not necessary, may/will produce unnecessary larger exe/lib. You don’t need that.

Also, this could be misleading for somebody – don’t include code, that you don’t need.

It could cause name conflicts, for example – if you include headers, containing functions, with the same name. You don’t need this, too.

C does not have namespaces, so you don’t need to include names, you will not use. You may want to use them for other things.

If you need a header in several modules – include it. Otherwise:

• if it’s not included indirectly, you’ll have compiler errors.
• if it IS included indirectly, this could cause some troubles for the developers, who will maintain/support your code