Using namespace std vs std::

Question

I been reading some different books and some use using namespace std and others use std:: . Can someone explain the difference? Also to my understanding i think that syntaxes with std:: in front of it would lose that portion of it if i declare using namespace std. For example std::cout is the same as typing cout and declaring namespace in the beginning where the std:: portion is gone. Is my hypothesis about this correct? Thanks.

Answer 1

Yes, declaring namespace std to be used and then using cout or anything that would usually have std:: in front of it would be the same as using it with std:: in front of it.

However, using namespace std is often recognized as a bad practice, as it could cause namespace collisions.

Answer 2

Yes, absolutely.

Answer 3

No problem.

Answer 4

So i should just practice using std:: for good measure?

Answer 5

Thank you :)