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>It was a mistake how C++, Java and other languages forgot to split interface declaration from implementation definition Huh? C++ is split into header files (i

• sk0g 3y ago
  I guess there is no "strict separation" in C++, since that mechanism is, I believe, optional. Adding implementations to your header files might never pass PRs, but still. It does enable header-only libraries though.
• creata 3y ago
  But there's no .cpp file for many (most?) uses of templates.
  • meindnoch 3y ago
    If you think about what templates are, it's not hard to understand why they must go completely in the header files. It's literally a source code template. It's a set of instructions to generate code at compile time, depending on the template parameters, hence 100% of the source code must be available at the point of instantiation. Just the interface is not enough.
    • creata 3y ago
      Of course, but it still breaks the split between interface and implementation that people are talking about here.