Thread: Two Classes Referring to each other

>> Guess there is no "perfect solution"
Sure there is. What is "unperfect" about my suggestion?

Originally Posted by Daved

>> Guess there is no "perfect solution"
Sure there is. What is "unperfect" about my suggestion?

Just a matter of taste. I don't like to #include "foo.h" in "boo.cpp" if I can avoid that.
Kurt

I don't understand. You have to #include "foo.h" somewhere in the compilation unit of boo.cpp if you use foo within boo.cpp. That means you have to include it either in the header file boo.h, in the source file boo.cpp, or some other file that is included in one of those two (like Thantos' common.h). Ignoring the third option, which is basically the same as one of the first two, that leaves including a header file in another header or in a source file.

That decision is obvious. Adding extra includes to header files increases compilation times and dependencies within the project. Including them in the source file instead reduces those dependencies. There is even a specific idiom (PIMPL/Compiler firewall) for avoiding putting #includes in a header file despite requiring an extra dynamic allocation.

When it comes to including headers in a header file or a source file, it shouldn't be a matter of taste. There is a correct way.

Originally Posted by Daved

That seems like a waste of a header file. Especially in this case when you are creating an entirely new header file to replace a single forward declaration in two other headers.

BTW, based on the original example, you'd also have to #include "foo.h" in bar.cpp and #include "bar.h" in foo.cpp.

For 2 yeah its a little wasteful, but when you have other information that is common to the project its not that bad.

Thantos:
Yes your example works fine until you add somesthing like this:

Code:

Foo fee(new bar(), 100);

or

Code:

fee.setB(new bar());

Same result

IMO the actual best solution is to avoid it all together. I don't remember ever seeing a case where the only solution was a circular reference such as these.

Edit: Of course the foo and bar I posted would have a nice little memory leak if the pointer pointed to dynamic memory.