dwavesystems / dwavesystems/dwave-optimization

Use anonymous namespaces for private functions in C++ files

Open
#591 2 comments 0 reactions 0 assignees View on GitHub
bug
Dominant language
C++
Stars
31
Forks
36
Avg merge
16h 55m
Merged PRs (30d)
8

Description

Turns out just because a function is only defined in a `.cpp` file, doesn't mean that it is private. E.g., I added
```c++
// flow.hpp
int namespace_experiment(int a) {
return a;
}
```
and then
```c++
// test_flow.cpp
int namespace_experiment(int a);
```
and that works just fine despite the declaration not being in the corresponding header, but rather an unrelated one.

But adding
```c++
// flow.hpp
namespace {
int namespace_experiment(int a) {
return a;
}
}
```
correctly makes it private.

We should fix this everywhere.

#### AI Generation Disclosure
I found this out when Claude used an anonymous namespace in https://github.com/dwavesystems/dwave-optimization/pull/590 which prompted me to learn more about it.

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

Research direction

Start by inspecting the C++ source files for functions defined only in .cpp files, using flow.hpp and test_flow.cpp as the example of the visibility issue. Identify file-local functions that lack anonymous namespaces and update the affected files; the work is done when private functions are consistently restricted across the project and the existing tests still pass.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
cpp
Domain
backend
Issue type
Refactor
Difficulty
4/5
Estimated time
3-5 days
Activity status
Active
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
55/100

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