Re: Including headers "within a definition"

From:
"=?iso-8859-1?q?Daniel_Kr=FCgler?=" <daniel.kruegler@googlemail.com>
Newsgroups:
comp.std.c++
Date:
Tue, 20 Feb 2007 15:28:21 CST
Message-ID:
<1172006746.161129.275880@m58g2000cwm.googlegroups.com>
On 20 Feb., 19:06, gennaro.pr...@yahoo.com (Gennaro Prota) wrote:

I'm perplexed by this requirement in the current standard draft:

 17.4.2.1 [using.headers] A translation unit shall include a header
 only outside of any external declaration of definition [...]

Logically speaking, declarations and definitions are recognized much
later than #include directives, so how can one say whether the include
directive is within a definition?


Just a guess: This rule exists to forbid something like this:

1) Inside definition:

struct curious {
#include <utility>
  std::pair<int, double> m;
};

2) Inside declaration:
void foo(
#include <utility>
  std::pair<int, double> arg);

Note too, that the wording employs a "shall" but not "no diagnostic is
required".


Two weeks ago I have learned that "shall" usually implies that any
violation would require a diagnostics - despite those cases, where
the standard explicitely says otherwise and some other
exceptions ;-).
This seems to be something like a metastandard (to use James Kanze's
words). See the thread

"detecting, at compile-time, whether a type is complete"

started at Jan. 30th, 10:38. Here James' reply to my question:

http://tinyurl.com/yw2vlh

Grettings from Bremen,

Daniel

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