I try and do pretty religious object orientated programming in C++. Putting you''re functions in classes 1)leads to better program organization. You have to worry less about breaking module x by changing variable b if module x''s functionality is wrapped in a class. Now its not always this cut and dry but, imho, it makes a big difference. Also 2) you have the benefits of inheritance and polymorphism, which when used well provided incredible power and extensibility. CTrap could extended to include CPitTrap or CDartTrap, reusing the code of the parent and provided the children a nice plug in.

You can use functions and member data without an instance of a class by using static (in C++). As long as function is static it can be called with no instance of the class like this:

CMyClass::MyFunction ();

That function can also access any static data you declare for that class.

I wont pretend I put every thing in class but sometimes it can help. I just wrote a small, fully static class to store configuration data from a ini file. To me having all the parameters wrapped in the class which then could be queried allowed for it to be neater, as well as also allowing for more durable error handling, etc. However, I do have to admit the very ini file name is a global so I do use them at times. I suppose it can be a bit of a gray area sometimes.

I wouldn''t say you have to always put functions in a class.
It depends on what you are trying to do.

Classes are generally supposed to abstract behavior and data relevant to that behavior.

In some instances you may not want a class.
Sometimes you may want only one instance of a class ( a Singleton design pattern )

If your goal is to provide logical grouping for functions which do not belong to a specific class, you can use a namespace.

Here''s an example ( not necessarily the best, but... ):

namespace Clock
{
long GetTime(void);
}

This means we want a free function GetTime() but we do not want to pollute the global namespace, so we make a namespace to put the function in.

calling the function, without utilizing ''using'' looks very similar to calling a static class method :

long theTime = Clock::GetTime();

The one thing nobody has mentioned yet is that typically, game programmers are not always looking for the most ''proper'' way to code something - they''re looking for best and fastest way to do it. If you have a good reason for not writing functions in a class, then don''t write them in a class... the last thing you should do is do it just because someone else thinks you should. Programming is a very individual thing, experimenting with your own style and writing programs in a way you understand and are comfortable with is one of the more important things in my opinion.

Regards

Starfall