Using std Namespace

Question

There seem to be different views on using \'using\' with respect to the std namespace.

Some say use \' using namespace std\', other say don\'t but rathe

Answer 1

Namespaces keep code contained to prevent confusion and pollution of function signatures.

Here's a complete and documented demo of proper namespace usage:

#include 
#include   // Uses ::log, which would be the log() here if it were not in a namespace, see https://stackoverflow.com/questions/11892976/why-is-my-log-in-the-std-namespace

// Silently overrides std::log
//double log(double d) { return 420; }

namespace uniquename {
    using namespace std;  // So we don't have to waste space on std:: when not needed.

    double log(double d) {
        return 42;
    }

    int main() {
        cout << "Our log: " << log(4.2) << endl;
        cout << "Standard log: " << std::log(4.2);
        return 0;
    }
}

// Global wrapper for our contained code.
int main() {
    return uniquename::main();
}

Output:

Our log: 42
Standard log: 1.43508