Confusion in Bjarne's PPP 2nd edition Pg. 316

Question

• The function will be inline; that is, the compiler will try to generate code for the function at each point of call rather than using function-call instructions to use common code. This can be a significant performance advantage for functions, such as month(), that hardly do anything but are used a lot.

• All uses of the class will have to be recompiled whenever we make a change to the body of an inlined function. If the function body is out of the class declaration, recompilation of users is needed only when the class declaration is itself changed. Not recompiling when the body is changed can be a huge advantage in large programs.

• The class definition gets larger. Consequently, it can be harder to find the members among the member function definitions.

All uses of the class will have to be recompiled whenever we make a change to the body of an inlined function. If the function body is out of the class declaration, recompilation of users is needed only when the class declaration is itself changed. Not recompiling when the body is changed can be a huge advantage in large programs.

I don't know what the book is trying to say exactly in this point. What do we mean by "have to be recompiled" and "recompilation is needed only when the class declaration is itself changed"

Answer 1

I suppose, from the context, that the quoted part discusses the pros & cons of putting member definitions inside the class declaration.

Suppose you have class X. You have to declare it somewhere. In a typical scenario, it will be placed in a header file whose only role will be to hold this declaration. Let's call it x.h.

A class usually has member functions. Now you can choose to either put them inside the header file inside the class declaration or in a separate file (typically: x.cpp).

---

Solution 1:

// file x.h contains everything
class X
{
public:
  X() { std::cout << "X() has been hit\n"; }
}; 

---

Solution 2:

// file x.h contains only the declaration(s)
class X
{
public:
  X(); 
}; 

// file x.cpp contains the class member definitions
#include "x.h"

X::X() { std::cout << "X() has been hit\n"; }

---

Whichever solution you use, you surely have some code that uses your class, and typically it is located in a different source file(s), e.g.:

// main.cpp
#include "x.h"

int main()
{
  X x;
} 

The first thing to notice: the user (here: main.cpp) looks the same whether you choose Solution 1 or 2. This is great. Now, here comes the message Bjarne wants to tell you: consider how changes to the class code will impact the users.

In Solution 1 you've packed everything into the header file. Any change to the class, even so apparently harmless as adding a new member function or just changing class formatting (you know, tabs, spaces, etc.) or adding a comment will force the compiler to recompile main.cpp. Why? Professional C++ programs are composed of many, many source files and their compilation is controlled and executed by special utility programs, like cmake, make, and many others. They simply look at the timestamps of the files that make up the program. Any change is a signal to recompile. Header files are never compiled, but all source files (= *.cpp) that include them (even indirectly, via other header files) have to be recompiled. This explains this:

All uses of the class will have to be recompiled whenever we make a change to the body of an inlined function.

(just to be sure: all class member functions declared inside the class declaration are considered inline by default). Here, main.cpp is an example of a "uses" mentioned above.

In Solution 2, file main.cpp will be recompiled only if x.h has been changed (in any way). If a programmer touches only x.cpp, then main.cpp will not be recompiled, because (a) C++ is designed in such a way to allow it and (b) professional C++ programs use other programs (I've mentioned above) that facilitate the efficient compilation of even large C++ programs. To be explicit: they are not compiled using commands like g++ *.cpp that can be found in some introductory C++ textbooks.

One final remark. The inline keyword was introduced essentially to allow Solution 1. Solution 2 is the original C language way. Solution 1 is sometimes used in C++ for better performance (but modern compilers can in many situations do the same job without it) and very often for templates (which are absent in C). Solution 1 is the most common way of programming templates, Solution 2 is typical for "ordinary" member functions. What Bjarne writes about is extremely important for library designers, I hope now you understand why.