Xref: utzoo comp.lang.c++:6429 gnu.g++:648 gnu.g++.bug:1444
Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!milano!cadillac!pebbles!ned
From: ned@pebbles.cad.mcc.com (Ned Nowotny)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.c++,gnu.g++,gnu.g++.bug
Subject: Re: Typedefs in class declarations.
Keywords: typedef class
Message-ID: <6038@cadillac.CAD.MCC.COM>
Date: 12 Feb 90 04:07:59 GMT
References: <6016@cadillac.CAD.MCC.COM> <25D3DCB8.16923@paris.ics.uci.edu>
Sender: news@cadillac.CAD.MCC.COM
Reply-To: ned%cad@MCC.COM (Ned Nowotny)
Organization: MCC CAD Program, Austin, TX
Lines: 32

In article <25D3DCB8.16923@paris.ics.uci.edu> rfg@ics.uci.edu (Ronald Guilmette) writes:
=>In article <6016@cadillac.CAD.MCC.COM> ned@MCC.COM (Ned Nowotny) writes:
=>>...[ I question the way G++ handles typedefs within a class declaration ]...
=>
=>Currently, g++ treats class-nested typedefs as local to the containing
=>class.  This is certainly different from what cfront 2.0 currently does.
=>Whether it is a problem or not depends on what you are trying to do.
=>Little incompatabilities like this are always mildly irritating however.
=>
=>...[ Ron reports MDT's opinion on this issue ]...
=>
=>>I do know, however, that you
=>>can't declare something as a classname::typedef.  Therefore, it would seem that
=>>G++'s behavior is either a bug, or typedefs within class declarations are
=>>nearly useless.
=>
=>They may be useful within the class.  Think encapsulation!
=>

Now, I may just be ignorant, but it seems to me that encapsulation should
mean that a private member function of a class could be declared and defined
to return a type named by a typedef declared within a class declaration.
However, G++ will not even allow this.  (For an example, look at the parseDate
function declared in Date.h and defined in Date.c in the NIH Class Library.)

This variance from both C++ and ANSI C behavior seems unnecessary and,
perhaps, incorrectly implemented.

Ned Nowotny, MCC CAD Program, Box 200195, Austin, TX  78720  Ph: (512) 338-3715
ARPA: ned@mcc.com                   UUCP: ...!cs.utexas.edu!milano!cadillac!ned
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