From: "John M. Aldrich" <fighteer AT cs DOT com>
Newsgroups: comp.os.msdos.djgpp
Subject: Re: .H Files?!?!?!??!
Date: Wed, 29 Apr 1998 19:19:23 -0400
Organization: Two pounds of chaos and a pinch of salt.
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Sanchez the Skiing Communist Cactus wrote:
> 
> Sorry if this quesiton is asked frequently, or if the answer is
> painfully obvious...  but please answer it anyway.

I recommend using a C tutorial of some sort, whether in a book or in a
class.  The proper use of header files is a fairly detailed topic that's
not easy to discuss in a simple email or news post.  It's also not
DJGPP-specific.

> Ok....  from what I am able to figure out...  A C/C++ *.h file
> contains macro/constant Definitions, and Function PROTOTYPES....  my
> only question is: If I were to create a .h file for my own use, where
> do I put the actual function Body?

Header files declare code that is defined in other source files (or in a
library, which is basically the same thing).  Therefore, you put the
function body in another source file which must also be compiled along
with your program.  For example, if I have a two-module program:  main.c
and driver.c, and there are some functions in driver.c that main.c needs
to use, I would probably write a header file named driver.h containing
all the prototypes needed by main.c.  Then, I #include "driver.h" in
both source files, compile each to an object module, and link them
together to produce the final executable:

  gcc -Wall -O -g -c main.c
  gcc -Wall -O -g -c driver.c
  gcc -o program.exe main.o driver.o

This task can be greatly simplified by using a project management tool
like Make or RHIDE, particularly for large projects.

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