c++ and .inl files

[anandarumug]

hi folks,

i would like to know what an .inl file is? from searching the internet i learnt that its a vc++ inline function file. but could not find any other information about that. not even in msdn!?! i was wondering whats the use of an .inl file and what are its advantages? and why do we need it and under what circumstances its prudent to use them? is this specific to vc++ or does g++ supports it as well?

thanks,
anand.

[jsmith]

.inl files allow you to avoid putting implementations of inlined functions in header files, thus keeping header files "clean". But for functions to be inlined, their definition as well as their declaration has to be visible to the source file calling them. Since it's bad practice to #include .cpp files, msoft created the idea of an "inline" file which is neither a .cpp file nor a header file.

All this is my best educated guess since I don't use msoft compilers.