Possible Duplicates:
Why is 'using namespace std;' considered a bad practice in C++?
Using std Namespace
Ive been hovering around a bunch of different forums and i seem to see this pop up every time and again. Its a very much beginner question.
I usually define a program with
#include<string>
using namespace std;
string x;
I see a bunch of code samples out there who define a string as
std::string.
What is the purpose of this? is it good practice or have some functionality?
Answer
As the other answer already stated, using std:: is necessary unless you import either the whole std namespace or std::string (see below).
In my opinion it's nicer to use std::string instead of string as it explicitly shows that it's a std::string and not some other string implementation.
If you prefer to write just string though, I'd suggest you to use using std::string; instead of using namespace std; to only import the things into the global namespace that you actually require.