Question

I understand that when you include a c header in your c++ project you must wrap it with extern "C" because c++ and c have two different ways of identifying function. c will use the name to identify a function and c++ must use the name and the parameters to satisfy function overloading.

What I don’t understand is why are there are c headers that don’t require to be wrapped in extern "C" like windows.h??

Answer 1

In general, wrapping a C header in extern "C" is not a good idea. The header might include other files that break when you do this. A C header that is designed to be used in C++ will handle extern "C" appropriately, without you having to do anything. Typical code:

#ifndef MY_HEADER_INCLUDE_GUARD
#define MY_HEADER_INCLUDE_GUARD

#ifdef __cplusplus
extern "C" {
#endif

/* C callable stuff goes here */

#ifdef __cplusplus
}
#endif

#endif /* MY_HEADER_INCLUDE_GUARD */