When Should You Use Private Inheritance in C ?

Private Inheritance in C

Introduction:

C offers various inheritance models, including public, protected, and private inheritance. While the benefits of public and protected inheritance are well-known, the use cases for private inheritance remain elusive for some developers. This article delves into the practical scenarios where private inheritance shines.

When to Use Private Inheritance:

1. Restricting Base Class Interface Exposure:

Unlike public inheritance, which exposes the entire base class interface, private inheritance allows you to selectively hide certain members. This is useful when you want to inherit from a base class but only expose a specific subset of its functionality to your derived class.

2. Preventing Pointer-to-Base Deletion:

Public inheritance from a concrete class without a virtual destructor can lead to undefined behavior. If a derived class object is deleted through a pointer to the base class, the destructor of the base class will be called, which can result in unexpected results. Private inheritance prevents this by preventing objects from being deleted through pointers to their bases.

3. Deriving from STL Containers:

Private inheritance from STL containers allows you to use their functionality without exposing the entire container interface. This can simplify code and reduce the risk of errors.

4. Implementing the Adapter Pattern:

Private inheritance is commonly used in the Adapter Pattern to create a class that adapts the interface of one class to work with another. Inheriting privately from the adapted class eliminates the need for forwarding functions.

5. Creating Private Interfaces:

Private inheritance can be used to implement private interfaces for design patterns like the Observer Pattern. It allows you to encapsulate the conversion between a class and a specific interface, making it accessible only to classes that inherit from it.

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