Question

This question more falls into the category of best practices, and clean/safe code for distribution.

I’m working on a math library in C++, for my portfolio, and to use during my last two semesters of College. I want this library to be very easy to use, and to minimize the possibilities of conflicts with pre existing code.

For readability I’m defining TEMP_T as a template for a class, at the top of each of my header files (math/matrix/vec/quaternion). It looks like the following:

#ifdef TEMP_T
#define UNDEF_TEMP_T TEMP_T // Used to reset any other definitions later.
#endif // TEMP_T
#define TEMP_T  template<class T> // Used to make the code more readable.

Later on, at the end of the file, I reset the pre existing definition, if nessicary with the following:

#undef TEMP_T // Get rid of our definition.
#ifdef UNDEF_TEMP_T
#define TEMP_T UNDEF_TEMP_T // Reset the previous definition, if it existed.
#undef UNDEF_TEMP_T
#endif // UNDEF_TEMP_T

My question: Would this successfully create a define visible to the file, and the file alone? If so, is this how you would go about accomplishing such a thing? If not, would you be so kind as to give me some insight on your rational behind your ways of doing things?

Answer 1

IMO that is much less readable, falls into the class of pre-processor abuse and I would seriously recommend using the actual definition which will make your code more readable by others which is the point of readability.