Separation of Definition and Implementation

In many languages the definition of a method is separated from its implementation. In some cases, such as in C++, they may even be found in different files. When this occurs it is necessary to use a fully qualified name to disambiguate a method, and make sure it is attached to the correct class. The slide shows an example of this in C++. In this language a pair of colons are used to form a fully qualified name. A fully qualified name can be thought of as similar to a persons name, which is formed from their given and their family name (for example, Chris Jones).

[audio] [real] Text to accompany slide24, in Chapter 4 of An Introduction to Object-Oriented Programming