[kplato] Re: koffice/kplato

[Raphael Langerhorst]

On Monday 01 November 2004 08:11, Bo Thorsen wrote:
> On Saturday 30 October 2004 19:02, Raphael Langerhorst wrote:
> > CVS commit by raphael:
> >
> > Updated the copyright year to 2004 in about data,
> > added information in the tODO file how to grep FIXME and TODO
> > items from source files, added entry about namespaces (still to
> > discuss on mailinglist) in TODO file.
> > [snip]
> > +-           Use KPlato namespace for all KPlato classes
>
> Why would you want to use a namespace for application code? It
> doesn't help.
>
> Bo.

Ok, this is something we still need to discuss: namespaces. I'll start 
with a reference to koffice/kspread/DESIGN.html:

When creating a new class, use namespace KSpread. Legacy code will be 
someday converted into namespaces but in the mean time do not use 
KSpread prefix anymore. Example: use KSpread::Foo instead of 
KSpreadFoo. Also source file name should not contain kspread prefix 
anymore, i.e. foo.h and foo.cc (but not kspread_foo.h and 
kspread_foo.cc) for the above example.

The project I'm mainly working on (G System) also uses namespaces for 
every part of the Project. As gcc now supports namespaces I think 
it's acceptable to think of a good/clean source code structure. Using 
namespaces results in a better structured code IMHO. It's a bit like 
designing tables for databases (ER diagrams). You don't want a column 
that let's you enter a name like "Raphael Langerhorst", but normally 
you want two columns, one for your first name, the other for your 
last name, this allows for better data handling. It's quite the same 
with sourcecode. If we're naming classes KPTProject for example then 
we could also call it KOKPTProject (KOffice KPlato Project). Of 
course we do not use the KOffice prefix as well (but it should show 
the issue). It would be better to use sth. like KPlato::Project, then 
it's clear that it is the project class of kplato and it is possible 
to distuingish between class type (Project) and where it belongs to 
(the KPlato software or namespace). That's like distuingishing 
between first and last name of a person ("Raphael" and 
"Langerhorst").

I guess at the moment the benefits are not so clearly visible, but in 
the long term using namespaces results in better code reusability and 
management, especially in large projects.

What do you think?

Raphael

-- 
G System, The Evolving Universe - http://www.g-system.at