Reverse string task requires 2 files for tests to pass

[anton-ptashnik]

I solved the task in reverse_string.cpp and rebuilding with make produced output below:

/home/bman/Documents/dev/exercism/cpp/exercises/practice/reverse-string/reverse_string_test.cpp:10:35: error: ‘reverse_string’ is not a member of ‘reverse_string’; did you mean ‘reverse_string’?
   10 |     REQUIRE("" == reverse_string::reverse_string(""));
      |                                   ^~~~~~~~~~~~~~
/home/bman/Documents/dev/exercism/cpp/exercises/practice/reverse-string/reverse_string.h:4:11: note: ‘reverse_string’ declared here
    4 | namespace reverse_string {
      |           ^~~~~~~~~~~~~~
make[2]: *** [CMakeFiles/reverse-string.dir/build.make:76: CMakeFiles/reverse-string.dir/reverse_string_test.cpp.o] Error 1
make[1]: *** [CMakeFiles/Makefile2:85: CMakeFiles/reverse-string.dir/all] Error 2
make: *** [Makefile:91: all] Error 2

It appeared there is a header file reverse_string.h where I need to add a signature definition too. Tests passed locally then but failed on Exercism after publishing reverse_string.cpp with my solution. It appeared I need to publish both reverse_string.cpp and reverse_string.h for the solution to be accepted. It seems to be an extra complication and a user should be required to publish a cpp file only as it is done for other tasks like:

• Log levels https://github.com/exercism/cpp/tree/main/exercises/concept/log-levels
• Lasagna https://github.com/exercism/cpp/tree/main/exercises/concept/lasagna
• Last will https://github.com/exercism/cpp/tree/main/exercises/concept/last-will

[github-actions[bot]]

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[siebenschlaefer]

Hello Anton,

We prefer to have these discussions on the Forum, that's why this issue has been closed automatically.

As for this specific issue: The syllabus and its concept exercises are a relatively new addition to the C++ track, and one of the major difficulties was to structure them in a way each concept and concept exercise only deals with one or two aspects of the language. Therefore @vaeng decided to omit .h files (and I agree with that decision).
But in practice C++ programmers use .h files all the time, and all practice exercises on the C++ track here on Exercism do that, too. So it's the concept exercises that deviate, and I strongly believe that we should keep .h files in the practice exercises.

If you still think that we should remove .h files from some/all practice exercises, or if you want to contribute anything else, please post your ideas on the forum and try to reach a consensus.

Cheers!