What are the benefits and drawbacks of using private and protected members in A++?

1 Private members

Private members are the most restrictive access modifiers in A++. They are only accessible within the same class or struct where they are declared. They cannot be inherited by subclasses or accessed by other classes or functions. Private members are useful for hiding implementation details, such as internal variables, helper methods, or constants, that are not relevant or necessary for the external users of the class. Private members also prevent accidental or intentional modification of the data or behavior of the class by external code.

3 Benefits of private and protected members

Using private and protected members has several benefits for your A++ code. First, they help you to achieve data abstraction, which means separating the interface of a class from its implementation. This way, you can change the internal details of the class without affecting the external users of the class, as long as you keep the interface consistent. Second, they help you to enforce data integrity, which means ensuring that the data of a class is consistent and valid. By restricting the access to the data, you can control how it is manipulated and validated, and avoid errors or inconsistencies. Third, they help you to promote code reuse, which means avoiding duplication of code and logic. By using inheritance and polymorphism, you can create subclasses that inherit the common data and behavior of the base class, and add or modify only what is different or specific to the subclass.

4 Drawbacks of private and protected members

Using private and protected members also has some drawbacks for your A++ code. First, they can make your code less flexible and adaptable, especially if you need to extend or modify the functionality of a class that you do not own or control. For example, if you want to use a third-party library or framework that provides a class with private or protected members, you may not be able to access or override some of the data or behavior that you need. Second, they can make your code less testable and debuggable, especially if you need to inspect or modify the internal state of a class during testing or debugging. For example, if you want to use a unit testing framework or a debugger tool that requires access to the private or protected members of a class, you may not be able to do so without violating the encapsulation principle. Third, they can make your code less readable and understandable, especially if you use too many or too few private or protected members. For example, if you use too many private or protected members, you may create a class that is too complex and has too many responsibilities. If you use too few private or protected members, you may create a class that is too simple and has too little functionality.

5 Best practices for using private and protected members

To use private and protected members effectively and efficiently in your A++ code, you should follow some best practices. First, you should use private members by default, unless you have a good reason to use protected or public members. This way, you can ensure the highest level of encapsulation and data hiding for your class. Second, you should use protected members sparingly, only when you need to allow subclasses to access or modify some of the data or behavior of the base class. This way, you can avoid breaking the encapsulation principle and creating tight coupling between the base class and the subclasses. Third, you should use public members only when you need to expose the interface of the class to the outside world. This way, you can provide a clear and consistent contract for the users of the class.

6 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?