Access specifiers in C++

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Access specifiers or (access modifiers) are keywords in object oriented language that set the accessibility of class , functions(methods), and other members. Access modifiers are a specific part of programming language syntax used to facilitate the encapsulation of components.

In C++ there are 3 access specifiers.

private
protected
public

Access specifiers in the program, are followed by colon(:).

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Private Member :

• Private members (variables and functions) of class cannot be accessed outside of the class.

• Only the class and friend functions can access private members.

• By default all members of the class would be private.

• To declare a member as private use keyword private.

• If someone tries to access private members outside of the class, it will raise an error.

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Protected Member :

• Protected members (variables and functions) of class is similar to private, it makes class members inaccessible outside of the class.

• But they can be accessed by any subclass of that class, it means, if class A is inherited by class B, then class B is subclass of class A(Discuss later).

• To declare a member as protected use keyword protected.

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Public Member :

• Public members (variables and functions) of class can be access anywhere outside the class.

• To declare a member as public use keyword public.

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Code Example:

Program to understand private, protected, and public member of class.

#include<iostream>
using namespace std;
class Test
{
 int a;

 protected:
  int b;
	
 public:	
  int c;

 private:
  int d;

 public:
  void showData()
  {
   cout<<"a = "<< a<< endl;
   cout<<"b = "<< b<< endl;
   cout<<"c = "<< c<< endl;
   cout<<"d = "<< d<< endl;
  }
};

int main() 
{
 Test ob;
//cannot access a is private
 ob.a = 10;
//cannot access b is protected
 ob.b = 20;
 
 ob.c = 30;// fine 
//cannot access d is private
 ob.d = 40; 
 return 0;
}

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