error: expected class-name before ‘{’ token

Question

I know there are a couple of similar questions(circular include) out stackoverflow and other websites. But I still can\'t figure it out and no solutions pop out. So I would

Answer 1

This should be a comment, but comments don't allow multi-line code.

Here's what's happening:

in Event.cpp

#include "Event.h"

preprocessor starts processing Event.h

#ifndef EVENT_H_

it isn't defined yet, so keep going

#define EVENT_H_
#include "common.h"

common.h gets processed ok

#include "Item.h"

Item.h gets processed ok

#include "Flight.h"

Flight.h gets processed ok

#include "Landing.h"

preprocessor starts processing Landing.h

#ifndef LANDING_H_

not defined yet, keep going

#define LANDING_H_

#include "Event.h"

preprocessor starts processing Event.h

#ifndef EVENT_H_

This IS defined already, the whole rest of the file gets skipped. Continuing with Landing.h

class Landing: public Event {

The preprocessor doesn't care about this, but the compiler goes "WTH is Event? I haven't heard about Event yet."