How Do C Access Specifiers (Public, Protected, Private) Affect Inheritance?

Understanding Access Specifiers and Inheritance in C : Private, Protected, and Public

When defining classes, access specifiers determine the accessibility of class members to external entities. In the context of inheritance, understanding the difference between private, protected, and public access specifiers is crucial.

Access Specifiers

In C , there are three access specifiers:

• Public: Members marked as public can be accessed from both inside and outside the class.
• Protected: Members marked as protected can be accessed from within the class and its derived classes.
• Private: Members marked as private can only be accessed from within the class itself.

Inheritance and Access Specifiers

Inheritance involves creating new classes (derived classes) based on existing classes (base classes). When inheriting members from a base class, the accessibility of those members changes based on the access specifier used.

Public Inheritance

In public inheritance, all public members of the base class become public members of the derived class, and all protected members of the base class become protected members of the derived class.

Private Inheritance

In private inheritance, all public and protected members of the base class become private members of the derived class. Private members of the base class remain inaccessible from the derived class.

Protected Inheritance

In protected inheritance, all public members of the base class become protected members of the derived class. Protected members of the base class also become protected members of the derived class.

Key Considerations

• Access specification is per-class, not per-object.
• A derived class can only access members of its own base class.
• Friends are classes or functions that are granted access to all members of a particular class, regardless of their access specifiers.

Choosing Between Access Specifiers

When deciding which access specifier to use, consider the following factors:

• Encapsulation: Private members should be used to hide implementation details.
• Inheritance: Protected members allow for controlled access by derived classes.
• Code Reusability: Public members can be accessed from anywhere, making them suitable for reusable components.

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