C++ Gotchas: Avoiding Common Problems in Coding and Design

Chapter 3. The Preprocessor

Preprocessing is probably the most dangerous phase of C++ translation. The preprocessor is concerned with tokens (the “words” of which the C++ source is composed) and is ignorant of the subtleties of the rest of the C++ language, both syntactic and semantic. In effect, the preprocessor doesn't know its own strength and, like many powerful ignoramuses, is capable of much damage.

The advice of this chapter is to allow the preprocessor to perform only tasks that require much power but little knowledge of C++ and to avoid its use for anything that requires finesse.

Gotcha #25: #define Literals

C++ programmers don't use #define to define literals, because in C++ such usage causes bugs and portability problems. Consider ...