Advanced C++ Programming Cookbook

Header-only libraries

Header-only libraries are exactly as they sound; an entire library is implemented using header files (usually a single header file). The benefit of header-only libraries is that they are easy to include in your project as you simply include the header and you are done (there is no need to compile the library as there are no source files to compile). In this recipe, we will learn about some issues that arise when attempting to create a header-only library and how to overcome them. This recipe is important because, if you plan to create your own library, a header-only library is a great place to start and will likely increase your adoption rates as downstream users will have less trouble integrating your library into their ...