Are C++ class methods defined in the header always inlined?

Question

Edit: I\'ve restored the original title but really what I should have asked was this: \'How do C++ linkers handle class methods which have be

Answer 1

It doesn't have to be inlined, no; it's just like if you specified inline explicitly.

When you write inline, you promise that this method won't be called from translation units where it isn't defined, and therefore, that it can have internal linkage (so the linker won't connect one object-file's reference to it to another object-file's definition of it). [This paragraph was wrong. I'm leaving it intact, just struck-out, so that the below comments will still make sense.]