Where to define class constants in C++?

Question

In C++, to have a tidier code, I want to declare a set of values as constants in my header file, example :

constexpr float SIZE_SMALL = 1.5f; 
constexpr float SIZE_MEDIUM = 2.5f; 
constexpr std::string COLOR_RED = "RED"; 
constexpr std::string MATERIAL_SILK = "SILK";
...etc

But this is getting too long and clumsy. Also, some constants can be grouped together because they describe different values of the same property e.g. SIZE_SMALL and SIZE_MEDIUM.

What is the best way to write this in my header file? I thought about structs e.g.

struct SIZE
{
float SMALL; 
float MEDIUM; 
}

but then I have to declare and define a variable in my .cpp and that kinda beats the purpose of all this.

Answer 1

This depends on your actual usage but consider using proper strong types instead of basic types. For instance, to declare sizes, make them of type size, not float. This doesn’t directly solve your grouping problem but it gives you all of the other benefits of strong typing, and may also help with grouping:

struct size {
private: float value;
public:
    explicit constexpr size(float value) : value{value} {}
    explicit constexpr operator float() const noexcept { return value; }
};

namespace default_sizes {
    constexpr auto SMALL = size{1.5f};
    constexpr auto MEDIUM = size{2.5f};
    // …
}

In fact, for domain-specific usage, except in very limited cases, I’d generally avoid bare basic types and always encapsulate them in their own domain-specific type.