On 16 May 2002, Praise wrote:

The only difference between .h header and "not .h" headers is that the second is put in the std namespace, afaik.

NO. That's completely not true. ISO C++ does _not_ have ANY headers that end with ".h". e.g, iostream, not iostream.h. vector, not vector.h Pages and Pages of Documentation: http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/vccore98/ht... http://www.cuj.com/articles/1999/9907/9907i/9907i.htm?topic=articles http://www.cuj.com/roundup/a.htm http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;q154419 http://docs.sun.com/htmlcoll/coll.32.8/iso-8859- 1/CPPMIGRATE/Ch4.Libs.html http://oakroadsystems.com/tech/cppredef.htm http://www.comp.leeds.ac.uk/so21/ref/std_c++.html http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF8&oe=UTF8&threadm=8jhg3o%24rid1%40bornews.borland.com&rnum=1&prev=/groups%3Fq%3Dc%252B%252B%2Bheaders%2Bwithout%2B%2522.h%2522%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26ie%3DUTF8%26oe%3DUTF8%26selm%3D8jhg3o%2524rid1%2540bornews.borland.com%26rnum%3D1 http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF8&oe=UTF8&threadm=366586e5.14229850%40news.which.net&rnum=5&prev=/groups%3Fq%3Dc%252B%252B%2Bheaders%2Bwithout%2B%2522.h%2522%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26ie%3DUTF8%26oe%3DUTF8%26selm%3D366586e5.14229850%2540news.which.net%26rnum%3D5 http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF8&oe=UTF8&threadm=369d414e.256702760%40netnews.worldnet.att.net&rnum=8&prev=/groups%3Fq%3Dc%252B%252B%2Bheaders%2Bwithout%2B%2522.h%2522%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26ie%3DUTF8%26oe%3DUTF8%26selm%3D369d414e.256702760%2540netnews.worldnet.att.net%26rnum%3D8 "New-style headers should work correctly (e.g., <iostream> instead of , where the issue is particularly important because the two versions of the headers provide different functionality)" -cuj.com "NOTE: It may seem that headers without the ".h" extension are Standard C++ headers and ones with the ".h" extension are C- Runtime headers or old iostream headers. _This is not true._" -msdn.com [stress not mine] "To make this work, simply follow these DOs and DON'Ts: [....] - DON'T use the headers ending in .h. They introduce identifiers into the global namespace as well as namespace std. They exist for compatibility with old code, and there's no reason to use them in new code. - DON'T use directives like using namespace std; at global level, especially in header files. That would make all library names visible in the global namespace, and defeat the purpose of putting them in std in the first place. (See Stroustrup section C.10.)" - oakroadsystems.com "Headers should be included without the .h suffix - i.e., #include <iostream> rather than #include Headers from the C Standard Library (e.g., string.h, math.h) should be included without the .h suffix and with a `c' prefix. For example, you should use #include <cmath> to gain access to mathematical functions like exp and log." - comp.leeds.ac.uk The situation is even more warped, as some compilers (e.g., Borland's) simply include <iostream> when you specify (i.e., your request for the old header is denied without warning). Do yourselves all a favor and while Standard C++. My recommendation: use STLport [http://www.stlport.com]. It's fast, cross-platform, and aims to be completely standards- compliant. SuSE RPMs available at my site: http://home.earthlink.net/~noodlez84/rpm_packages.html -- Karol Pietrzak PGP KeyID: 3A1446A0