Question

Coming from the Java world, in which there are no typedefs, I have a question for C++ developers:

My task is to rewrite a large MATLAB project in C++. In order to get to know the structure of the code, I have started rebuilding the module and class structure without actually implementing the functionality.

I know that I frequently need classes/types like Vector and ParameterList, which will be provided by some framework I have not decided on yet.

So I created a central header file Typedefs.h in which I have type definitions like

typedef void Vector; // TODO: set vector class
typedef void ParameterList; // TODO: set parameter list class

For now, these are set to void, but I can use these types to write class skeletons and method signatures. Later I can replace them with the actual types.

Is this something that makes sense? If yes, is there a way to avoid manually including the Typedefs.h in every file?

Answer 1

I doubt this would work, unless you use, for example Vector*. You wouldn’t be able to have Vector objects or parameters, so it’s pretty much pointless.

And for use as a pointer, you can very well do a forward declaration.

Anyway, I don’t really see the need for any of this. You can declare an empty class without having to implement it, and it’s even easier to write than a typedef:

 typedef void Vector;

vs

 struct Vector{};