Is macros necessary in C++?

My question here is "Is macros a more of the C thingy? Is the use of macros encouraged in C++ where the same thing can be done in plain code?" Here's I am not talking about the use of macros in preprocessor headers but macros in source code.

Here 's an extract from MSDN

Code:

---

#include <stdio.h>
#define EPSILON 0.0001  // Define your own tolerance
#define FLOAT_EQ(x,v) (((v - EPSILON) < x) && (x <( v + EPSILON)))
void main()
{
    float a,b,c
    a=1.345f;
    b=1.123f;
    c=a+b;
  //if (FLOAT_EQ(c, 2.468))        // Remove comment for correct result
  if (c == 2.468)                //Comment this line for correct result
  printf("They are equal\n");
else
  printf("They are not equal!!The value of c is %13.10f,or %f",c,c);
}

---

I can understand the above code very well. There were some macros that I was browsing some time ago, that I cannot understand fully. However I understand the logic of the source and macros(what they are trying to do.).

If I were to implement that source myself, I will turn that macros into my plain code as I still do not understand fully how macros worked.

However the main question is "Is macros necessary and encouraged in C++?"

No, not particularly.

Both of those could be implemented differently:

Code:

---

#include <stdio.h>
const double EPSILON = 0.0001;  // Define your own tolerance
inline bool FLOAT_EQ(double x, double v) {
    return (((v - EPSILON) < x) && (x <( v + EPSILON)));
}

void main()
{
    float a,b,c
    a=1.345f;
    b=1.123f;
    c=a+b;
  //if (FLOAT_EQ(c, 2.468))        // Remove comment for correct result
  if (c == 2.468)                //Comment this line for correct result
  printf("They are equal\n");
else
  printf("They are not equal!!The value of c is %13.10f,or %f",c,c);
}

---

Macros are almost unnecessary now with templates and inline functions - the preprocessor should only really be used for conditionally including blocks of code.