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One of my "non-programmer" friends recently decided to make a C++ program to solve a complicated mechanical problem. He wrote each function in a separate .cpp file, then included them all in the main source file, something like this: main.cpp: #include "function1.cpp" #include "function2.cpp" ... int main() { ... } He then compiled the code , with a single gcc line: g++ main.cpp // took about 2 seconds Now, I know that this should work, but I'm not sure whether including .cpp files directly into the main program is a good idea. I have seen the following scheme several times, where all the function prototypes go into a header file with the extern keyword, like this: funcs.h: extern void function1(..); extern void function2(..); ... main.cpp: ... #include "funcs.h" ... & compiling with: g++ -c function1.cpp g++ -c function2.cpp ... g++ -c main.cpp g++ -o final main.o function1.o function2.o ... I think that this scheme is better (with a makefile, ofcourse). What reasons can I give my friend to convince him so?

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