[chipdart]

> Bjarne's book seemed to be a comprehensive introduction and I'm currently going through it. I found that adding "using namespace std" at the beginning of the file reduced some of C++'s syntactic overhead that a beginner such as myself has to account for. It allows me to focus on the essential by learning the programming principles, rather than getting stuck on the syntax and having to (annoyingly) repeat std:: every line.

That's a false dichotomy. You are free to add using namespace directives in scopes that aren't propagated to other components, such as private headers, source files, functions definitions, etc. including using namespace directives in interfaces is a notorious source of problems.

The problem with Stroustrup's pedagogical style is that it conveys to newbies that this approach is the right way to write code although this is a known source of nontrivial problems that will leave any newbie stumped.

[krimskrams]

You make a good point. After more reading on this, I change my mind. The slew of problems caused by using namespace directives far outweigh the positives of avoiding the use of prefixes for convenience sake.

Even if there are cases where they can be safely used as you've mentioned, its introduction in the book early on, especially in the examples, seems to be a crutch that could lead to an eventual footgun for beginners like me who are following along. I'll reconsider its use from now on.