Thread: to use .h or not to use .h that is the question

ok. in my c++ programmming class in highschool we use visual c++ 6.0 pro. and we use this book that comes with its own library. we added it to our library of header files.

well when i type code like this

Code:

#include <iostream>
#include <string.h>

int main()
{
String happy = "happy";
std::cout << happy;

return 0;
}

it gives me an error and say "cout" is ambigous. but when i write code like this:

Code:

#include <iostream.h>
#include <string.h>

int main()
{
String happy = "happy";
std::cout << happy;

return 0;
}

it doesnt give me an error. i know the new standard is without the .h because of namespaces, etc....can anyone help and explain to me why...also i cant do #include <string> it says file not found...why do i have to put a .h for string but not iostream?

thanks

Okay so I'll address this the best I can without being overly specific.

File: string.h

This file contains common string functions such as strlen, strcpy, strcat, etc. Even has memory stuff like memmove, memcpy, etc.

File: string ( no extension )

This is the templated string class. This is what you are using in your program. Note is should also be lower-case string not String.

File: cstring ( no extension )

This is the new ANSI standard headers. They prefix many headers with a C and strip off the h. Basically this file turns around and includes string.h. So for your program I suggest doing this.

Code:

#include <iostream>
#include <string>
using namespace std;

int main( int argc, char *argv[] )
{
  string happy = "happy";
  cout << happy << endl;

  return 0;
}