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Re: C++ namespace using directives
- From: Gabriel Dos Reis <gdr at codesourcery dot com>
- To: Jim Blandy <jimb at redhat dot com>
- Cc: gdb at sources dot redhat dot com
- Date: 17 Apr 2002 04:39:46 +0200
- Subject: Re: C++ namespace using directives
- Organization: CodeSourcery, LLC
- References: <20020416214101.C985E5EA11@zwingli.cygnus.com>
Jim Blandy <jimb@redhat.com> writes:
| Could a C++ person check my understanding of `using namespace'
| directives?
|
| I'm reading Stroustrup, and the more I read about `using namespace',
| the weirder it gets.
:-)
| Check this out:
|
| namespace A
| {
| int x;
| int y;
| int z;
| };
|
| void f ()
| {
| int *x;
|
| {
| int *y;
| using namespace A;
|
| *x; /* `x' refers to local x, not A::x */
| *y; /* `y` refers to local y, not A::y */
| z; /* `z' refers to A::z */
| }
| }
|
| This program is type-correct, so you can see exactly which definitions
| those identifiers refer to. I ran it through the newest GCC, and it
| didn't complain about ambiguities. Stroustrup C.10.1 agrees.
Yes. That matches the standard requirement:
3.4.1/2
The declarations from the namespace nominated by a using-directive
become visible in a namespace enclosing the using-directive; see
7.3.4. For the purpose of the unqualified name lookup rules
described in 3.4.1, the declarations from the namespace nominated by
the using-directive are considered members of that enclosing namespace.
So in the above program, after the 'using namespace A', A::x and A::y
are considered (for the name lookup process) as members of the global
namespace. So they are hidden by the local definitions in f().
| Weird, huh? Although the `using namespace' directive does make A's
| variables visible, A's bindings are still *shadowed* by local
| variables in blocks that *enclose* the one containing the `using
| namespace' directive.
Exact.
| So, here's the way I'd describe the effect of a `using namespace'
| directive:
|
| To look up some identifier X in a scope that has a `using namespace N'
| directive, search for both X and N::X.
In the transitive closure of the enclosing namespace.
[...]
| Regarding what constitutes an "ambiguity": if the same declaration
| makes it into a scope under two different names, that's not considered
| an ambiguity.
Right.
[...]
| However, if we give namespace B its own `int x' definition, the
| compiler does complain.
Right,
| Is this all correct?
Yes.
-- Gaby