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Headers are primarily used to separate interfaces from implementations in order to provide modularity and organisation of code. Headers typically contain declarations of related data types, classes and functions while corresponding source files contain the implementations or definitions for those types. The only real exceptions are template functions and classes which must be fully-defined within the header.

By separating the interfaces from the implementations, other source files can make use of those interfaces simply by including the appropriate headers. All headers must use header guards to ensure each is only included once in any compilation.

Headers can also include other headers, however this is only necessary if the header requires access to the interface contained therein. For instance, if the header declares a derived class, the base class header must be included as the derived class declaration needs to know the interface details of its base class. Similarly if a class contains an embedded class member, the interface for that member must be known. Pointers and references to types do not require interfaces, thus a forward declaration suffices. However, if a header includes an inline implementation that requires an interface (such as an accessor that returns a type by value, or that invokes a method of a type), the appropriate header for that type must be included.

All types that can be forward declared in a header must be included in the header's corresponding source file.

The one exception to separating interface from implementations is when creating template functions or classes. Templates must be fully-defined thus all implementation details must be available from the header alone. One way of maintaining separation is to have the header include the source file rather than the other way around. However, the inclusion must come after the interface declaration, and the source must not include the header.

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