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Subject:Results of "Includes" discussion From:Thomas Quine <thomas -dot- quine -at- NCOMPASSLABS -dot- COM> Date:Tue, 13 Oct 1998 15:58:57 -0700
Thank you for your comments about correct use of the programming jargon
term "includes". The following is a summary of the results.
-----
Use "include files" to refer to files which are to be included in a program
at compile time. These files are usually stored in a special "include
directory".
Use "include statement" to refer to the code that calls the included file.
(i.e. #include filename.ext)
To avoid confusion between the two, never use the term "includes" as a
plural noun.
Several people insisted that include files were the same as header files,
since header files are included. However, others pointed out that while
header files were certainly included, in many programming languages, other
files that were not header files might also be included. Therefore include
files are NOT equal to header files. When referring to header files, call
them "header files", not "include files".
Thanks!
- Thom
