skuinders

Not "side effects" ... but if you were going to write a program that used mostly items from a different namespace, then it would not be worth it. So, basically, it is usual to use that line for any ANSI-C++ compliant code.

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darkone916

not worth it in wat ways??

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OpenLoop

consider this:

now you can get rid of std by using namespace std but is it worth it in this case to add a full line of code to get rid of three letters?

darkone916

Ok i get it now... :p

thanx guys

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Cerulean

*sighs*
It's silly that every single tutorial feeds you the use of "using namespace std;" as the norm thing to do. It clogs up the global namespace. You definitely don't know the name of every single function/class/typedef the standard library provides you with. You'll no doubt get name conflicts with variable names, function names, etc. At least with the "using std::cout" syntax you know precisely what you're including into the global namespace.

OpenLoop

Functions and variables defined in a local scope has priority over variables defined in namespace/global scope. I've been using "using namespace std;" for 2+ years and never ran into the problem you're describing (it sure saved me some keystrokes though).
It is really a matter of personal choice IMO.

Ancient Dragon

I'v never had a problem with "usng namespace std" either. Who cares that it causes the compiler to do extra stuff? use precompiled headers and you will never even notice the compile-time difference.

darkone916

I think i will start using "using namspace std;" from today.

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Cerulean

That's good to know. I sure hope it doesn't turn around and bite you like it had a fair few times when I first started working on large projects.
Sure, it's personal choice, just like shooting yourself in the foot is a personal choice. The bad things is that to the uninformed this "personal choice" of yours is being passed of as the Right Thing To Do (tm). Hence me now recommending you Google and see what other programmers recommend. You'll see that in the vast majority of cases, their personal choice concurs with mine.

My £0.02.

OpenLoop

Cerulean, you actually scanned all the 245,000 google results for using namespace std and determined that I doubt it. But if you want, post a poll about it in programmingforums.org and let's see what other programmers have to say.

I'll continue "using namespace std;", not because you don't like it, but because you don't have any hard evidence as about how "DANGEROUS" it can be. Clearly the naming is not a problem, also functions can be identified by their arguments if the names are the same.

Now I know you will not be using namespace std, but just to save you the trouble of typing std:: before every cout and cin call, try "using std::cin" and "using std::cout".