Separate “include” and “src” folders for application-level code? [closed]

Answer 1

A lot depends on the size of project involved. Up to a few dozen files or so, keeping them in one directory tends to be more convenient. For a bigger application that includes hundreds or thousands of files, you start to look for ways to separate them (though in the projects I've worked on, it was done more on functional lines than src/include). In between those, it's probably open to question.

Answer 2

Bottom Line: sources and headers that are still changing go in /src. Code that has crystallised should go in /lib & /include (actually you could keep all .libs and their .hs in /lib).

• Keep own sources and headers together, provided they are (a) specific to this project or (b) have not yet been factored out as a shared library.
• Once certain sources in the main project have been factored out as a (relatively stable) library, place the .a or .lib into /lib, and its public interface header into /include.
• All third party libraries and their public interface headers also go into /lib & /include.

As others note, it is often more compatible for tools / IDEs to access .h/.c from one folder. But from an organisational view it can be useful to separate changing local code from stable lib code.

Answer 3

I don't do this; there seems little advantage in it. Since headers tend to have a different extension from source files, you can have your editor show them separately if you really feel the need -- Visual Studio does this by default, but I disable it since I prefer seeing them together

Answer 4

We have a build system which use this rule. This build system is sconspiracy a set of scripts to configure SCons and dedicated to the C++ world. You can see an example which use this tools : fw4spl

Answer 5

I place include (header) and source files in the same directory (folder). I create different folders for different themes. I get frustrated when trying to find header files (while debugging and also for researching). In some shops, there are only two folders: source and includes. These directories tend to grow exponentially. Reusing code becomes a nightmare at best.

IMHO, I believe organizing by theme is better. Each theme folder should build into at least one library. Different projects can easily include the themes by searching or including the folders. The projects only need to include the libraries. Smart build engines can list the theme folders as dependencies. This speeds up the build process.

The theme organization also adds a bit of safety to the project. Accidental damage to files (such as removing the wrong ones or replacing with different versions) is reduced since files are located in different directories. Deletion of files in the "Person" folder will not affect files in the "Shape" folder.

This is just my opinion, Your Mileage May Vary.

Answer 6

I almost always create include and src folders to split up my source code. I think it makes the folder less cluttered and files are easier to find in my IDE. But I think this is just a matter of taste.

Either method is valid. It depends on the coding style you want to follow how you do this.