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Include Files

All files should should ensure that <aips/aips.h> is included in their source file. It currently makes sure the following are properly defined:

1.

#pragmas that are required for the TI preprocessor (presently used to implement templates () and run time type identification ().

2.

It will make some portability adjustments and ensure that fundamental types () are available.

3.

Ensure that the namespace management () is turned on.

4.

And any other miscellaneous things that are required to ensure that programmers can see a common environment.

Some other include files that are of general note are:

• aips/aips_exit.h If you are having name conflicts with another library you can include this file and refer to aips++ classes by their full name.
• aips/Constants.h If you have a common mathematical constant it should be available in here. If it isn't, please think about adding it. ^3.1 This file should also have astronomical and physical constants at some point. Don't hide what might be generally useful constants in your code -- make them generally available!
• aips/Error.h If you intend to catch or throw any aips++ exceptions () you should include this file.
• aips/Math.h You should include this file instead of #include <math.h> since unfortunately math.h doesn't always have a uniform set of functions. Also a few additional functions are in Math.h, in particular min and max functions.

The strategy for including files is very important. Every file which is #include'd in your .h file will normally ^3.2 be opened and read in turn as your header file is scanned, even if you have protected your header file (). This can greatly increase your compilation time. Instead of #include in your header files, you should instead forward declare all the classes you need, and then do the # include in your source (".C") file. The only times you might want to violate this rule of thumb is when the classes you are defining in your header file will always or almost always be used with another set of classes, then for convenience you might want to package them together this way. You might also be conservative and always include aips/aips.h.

So, instead of:

#include <aips/Foo.h>

class Bar
{
   Foo doit();
};

We would have:

class Foo; // Forward

class Bar
{
   Foo doit();
};