C++ Coding Standards: 101 Rules, Guidelines, and Best Practices

59. Don’t write namespace usings in a header file or before an #include

Summary

Namespace usings are for your convenience, not for you to inflict on others: Never write a using declaration or a using directive before an #include directive.

Corollary: In header files, don’t write namespace-level using directives or using declarations; instead, explicitly namespace-qualify all names. (The second rule follows from the first, because headers can never know what other header #includes might appear after them.)

Discussion

In short: You can and should use namespace using declarations and directives liberally in your implementation files after #include directives and feel good about it. Despite repeated assertions to the contrary, namespace using ...