Why friendship not applicable to function arguments

[Ninan]

When compiling using gcc 2.95.3, I get the following error for the
code snippet posted below.
bash-2.03$ g++ membAccess.C
membAccess.C: In function `int main()':
membAccess.C:13: `struct A B::m_a' is private
membAccess.C:38: within this context
Is this how it is supposed to work or is this a compiler specific issue

1 #include <iostream>
2
3
4 struct A
5 {
6 int y;
7 };
8
9 void useAalter (A* pA);
10 class B
11 {
12
13 A m_a;
14 public:
15 B (A& a)
16 {
17 m_a = a;
18 }
19 A* getA () { return &m_a;}
20 friend void useAalter(A*pA);
21 };
22
23 void useA (A* pA)
24 {
25 std::cout << pA->y << std::endl;
26 }
27
28 void useAalter (A* pA)
29 {
30 std::cout << pA->y << std::endl;
31 }
32
33 int main ()
34 {
35 A a = {45};
36 B bInst (a);
37 useA (bInst.getA());
38 useAalter (&(bInst.m_a)) ;
39 }

[Howard]

"Ninan" <ni****@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:11*********************@p79g2000cwp.googlegro ups.com...

When compiling using gcc 2.95.3, I get the following error for the
code snippet posted below.
bash-2.03$ g++ membAccess.C
membAccess.C: In function `int main()':
membAccess.C:13: `struct A B::m_a' is private
membAccess.C:38: within this context
Is this how it is supposed to work or is this a compiler specific issue

1 #include <iostream>
2
3
4 struct A
5 {
6 int y;
7 };
8
9 void useAalter (A* pA);
10 class B
11 {
12
13 A m_a;
14 public:
15 B (A& a)
16 {
17 m_a = a;
18 }
19 A* getA () { return &m_a;}
20 friend void useAalter(A*pA);
This makes the function useAalter a friend. So far, so good.
21 };
22
23 void useA (A* pA)
24 {
25 std::cout << pA->y << std::endl;
26 }
27
28 void useAalter (A* pA)
29 {
30 std::cout << pA->y << std::endl;
31 }
32
33 int main ()
34 {
35 A a = {45};
36 B bInst (a);
37 useA (bInst.getA());
38 useAalter (&(bInst.m_a)) ;

But here, you're getting an error because you're trying to resolve
&(bInst.m_a), and pass that as an A*. But you're in main() here, not in
useAalter() yet. The value you're trying to pass has to be resolved _here_,
then passed as an A* parameter to useAalter(). And it can't be resolved
here, because main() is not a friend of the class A.

If you want to access the private member of bInst, you could make the
parameter to useAalter() some kind of reference or pointer to a B instance,
instead of a pointer to an A instance. Then you'd pass bInst (or its
address) to useAalter(), instead of the address of bInst.m_a.

-Howard

[Kaz Kylheku]

Ninan wrote:

When compiling using gcc 2.95.3, I get the following error for the
code snippet posted below.
bash-2.03$ g++ membAccess.C
membAccess.C: In function `int main()':
membAccess.C:13: `struct A B::m_a' is private
membAccess.C:38: within this context
Is this how it is supposed to work or is this a compiler specific issue

1 #include <iostream>
2
3
4 struct A
5 {
6 int y;
7 };
8
9 void useAalter (A* pA);
10 class B
11 {
12
13 A m_a;
14 public:
15 B (A& a)
16 {
17 m_a = a;
18 }
19 A* getA () { return &m_a;}
20 friend void useAalter(A*pA);
21 };
Because useAalter is a friend of class B, it is allowed to access
private members in that class.

28 void useAalter (A* pA)
29 {
30 std::cout << pA->y << std::endl;
31 }
But useAalter does not actually access anything in class B. This
function makes no use of its frienship to B whatsoever. It accesses the
identifier A::y. This is allowed because y is public in struct A.
32
33 int main ()
34 {
35 A a = {45};
36 B bInst (a);
37 useA (bInst.getA());
38 useAalter (&(bInst.m_a)) ;
39 }

Here, it is the function main which accesse the name B::m_a in line 38.
Since main isn't a friend of the class B and m_a is private, this
doesn't work.

Access protection is concerned with name lookups, not pointer
dereferences.

The function useAalter has no idea that the A * which it is working
with is in fact B::m_a. It could be any A struct whatsoever:

A a = { 45 };

useAalter(&a); // nothing to do with any B object

[Yong Hu]

Howard wrote:

"Ninan" <ni****@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:11*********************@p79g2000cwp.googlegro ups.com...

When compiling using gcc 2.95.3, I get the following error for the
code snippet posted below.
bash-2.03$ g++ membAccess.C
membAccess.C: In function `int main()':
membAccess.C:13: `struct A B::m_a' is private
membAccess.C:38: within this context
Is this how it is supposed to work or is this a compiler specific issue

1 #include <iostream>
2
3
4 struct A
5 {
6 int y;
7 };
8
9 void useAalter (A* pA);
10 class B
11 {
12
13 A m_a;
14 public:
15 B (A& a)
16 {
17 m_a = a;
18 }
19 A* getA () { return &m_a;}
20 friend void useAalter(A*pA);
This makes the function useAalter a friend. So far, so good.

21 };
22
23 void useA (A* pA)
24 {
25 std::cout << pA->y << std::endl;
26 }
27
28 void useAalter (A* pA)
29 {
30 std::cout << pA->y << std::endl;
31 }
32
33 int main ()
34 {
35 A a = {45};
36 B bInst (a);
37 useA (bInst.getA());
38 useAalter (&(bInst.m_a)) ;

But here, you're getting an error because you're trying to resolve
&(bInst.m_a), and pass that as an A*. But you're in main() here, not in
useAalter() yet. The value you're trying to pass has to be resolved _here_,
then passed as an A* parameter to useAalter(). And it can't be resolved
here, because main() is not a friend of the class A.

The error message "`struct A B::m_a' is private" is saying that main is
not a friend of class B and thus class B's private member could not be
accessed in main.

If you want to access the private member of bInst, you could make the
parameter to useAalter() some kind of reference or pointer to a B instance,
instead of a pointer to an A instance. Then you'd pass bInst (or its
address) to useAalter(), instead of the address of bInst.m_a.

-Howard

[Howard]

"Yong Hu" <yh*******@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:11**********************@75g2000cwc.googlegro ups.com...

Howard wrote:

"Ninan" <ni****@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:11*********************@p79g2000cwp.googlegro ups.com...

> When compiling using gcc 2.95.3, I get the following error for the
> code snippet posted below.
> bash-2.03$ g++ membAccess.C
> membAccess.C: In function `int main()':
> membAccess.C:13: `struct A B::m_a' is private
> membAccess.C:38: within this context
> Is this how it is supposed to work or is this a compiler specific issue
>
> 1 #include <iostream>
> 2
> 3
> 4 struct A
> 5 {
> 6 int y;
> 7 };
> 8
> 9 void useAalter (A* pA);
> 10 class B
> 11 {
> 12
> 13 A m_a;
> 14 public:
> 15 B (A& a)
> 16 {
> 17 m_a = a;
> 18 }
> 19 A* getA () { return &m_a;}
> 20 friend void useAalter(A*pA);

This makes the function useAalter a friend. So far, so good.

> 21 };
> 22
> 23 void useA (A* pA)
> 24 {
> 25 std::cout << pA->y << std::endl;
> 26 }
> 27
> 28 void useAalter (A* pA)
> 29 {
> 30 std::cout << pA->y << std::endl;
> 31 }
> 32
> 33 int main ()
> 34 {
> 35 A a = {45};
> 36 B bInst (a);
> 37 useA (bInst.getA());
> 38 useAalter (&(bInst.m_a)) ;

But here, you're getting an error because you're trying to resolve
&(bInst.m_a), and pass that as an A*. But you're in main() here, not in
useAalter() yet. The value you're trying to pass has to be resolved
_here_,
then passed as an A* parameter to useAalter(). And it can't be resolved
here, because main() is not a friend of the class A.

The error message "`struct A B::m_a' is private" is saying that main is
not a friend of class B and thus class B's private member could not be
accessed in main.

Yeah, that's what I meant. I accidently said "not a friend of class _A_",
when I mean "_B_".

-Howard