Question

So I recently found some source code which used a particular technique(idiom?) I hadn’t seen before; to put it simply; instead of using a static variable for the class in question, it used a local variable inside the classes source file.

myclass.h

class myclass {
    //static int myint;

public:
    myclass();
    ~myclass();
    int count();
};

myclass.cpp

#include "myclass.h"

int myint = 0;

myclass::myclass() {
    myint++;
}
myclass::~myclass() {
    myint--;
}

int myclass::count() {
    return myint;
}

main.cpp

#include "myclass.h"
#include <iostream>

int main() {
    myclass aclass;
    myclass theclass;

    std::cout << theclass.count(); //outputs 2
    return 0;
}

My question is, why would someone take this approach over using a static variable?

My take on it is that, since ideally the variable would only be known to the myclass class (private static), and inheritance is not of importance at all (in this case), this could stop others knowing about this variable. But that is the only advantage I can see; not sure if that would warrant it.

The same question goes for (static / non – static) member functions that are private; when inheritance is not important.

EDIT: After reading around, I’m going to make a stab that it is because some people still use C programming style…

Answer 1

It doesn’t really matter whether you use a static member variable or a global variable or a locally declared static variable; the only important thing is that the object has to have static storage duration. Beyond that, the choice is mostly based on personal preference or coding style guidelines.

Unfortunately, this code is basically wrong. While myint is “hidden” and only directly accessible from within myclass.cpp, it still has external linkage. This means that it is accessible from other translation units (by using extern int myint in those other translation units) and its definition can conflict with other definitions of myint in other translation units.

To correct this, it should either be declared static (giving it internal linkage) or, preferably, it should be declared in an unnamed namespace,

namespace {
    int myint;
}

(an object in an unnamed namespace may still have external linkage, but it is uniquely named so it cannot be used by its name from outside of the translation unit in which it is compiled.)