Hello,
when working with namespace, I need to finish it with a semicolon? When I put a forward declaration of a class into a namespace, for example, many people doesn't include a semicolon but, it seems to be optional.
Does semicolon add functionality or change the current functionality by adding or removing?
Thanks.
No, you do not need to "finish it" with a semi-colon. It is not common practice, nor does it have any effect.
namespace foo
{
...
} // no semi-colon necessary here.
If semicolon is optional it doesn't change functionality, otherwise it you omit it you'll get a syntax error.
namespace A {
class B; // forward declaration, semicolon is mandatory.
class B {
}; // class definition, semicolon is mandatory
class C {
} f(); // because otherwise it is a return type of a function.
} // no need for semicolon
namespace D = A; // semicolon is mandatory.
If these are not the cases you talked about, comment please.
No. Namespaces do not need to end with a semicolon though Bjarne wanted to do it I guess to reduce syntax related discrepancies with other C++ constructs. However I am not sure why it was not accepted.
"Silly typing errors will inevitably arise from the syntactic similarity of the namespace constructs to other C++ constructs. I propose we allow an optional semicolon after a global declaration to lessen the frustration. This would be a kind of ‘‘empty declaration’’ to match the empty statements."
All forward declarations of the class need to end with a semicolon. Can you give examples of where it is optional in C++?