Question

Is

#define LBitmap std::list < CBITMAP *>

a good practice?

Edit:
Allright, what can I do to convince my boss that this is bad practice?

Answer 1

No, its not a good practice to use #define in C++.

Its good to use typedef as this has a well defined scope

typedef is scope defined and compiler interprets its definition each time it meet which is not the in case of #define. #define is interpreted as compile time itself.

Here is the MSDN definition of typedef and #define

A typedef declaration introduces a name that, within its scope, becomes a synonym for the type given by the type-declaration portion of the declaration

When using DEFINE statements, all instances of that statement are replaced by the value of the statement during a preprocessing phase.

#define LBitmap std::list < CBITMAP *>   // BAD

typedef std::list < CBITMAP *> LBitmap  // GOOD

To convince your Boss

#define CHARPTR char*

CHARPTR a, b;

After preprocessing, that line expands to

char* a, b;

Here, only variable a is of type char * whereas b is simply char

If you use typedef

typedef char* CHARPTR;
CHARPTR a, b;

Here both a and b are both of type char *