[SOLVED] Determine if method or member can be protected or private

Issue

It is possible to check (for example by gcc) which methods or members can be moved to protected or private section?

Solution

Consider the following part of code:

class foo{
    protected:
        void foo_method_1(){};
        int foo_member_var;
};

class bar : public foo{
    void bar_method_1(){
        foo_method_1();
    }
};

If you want to determine which members and methods of the foo class can be private, you have to move all of them to the private section. So it will look like this:

class foo{
    private:
        void foo_method_1(){};
        int foo_member_var;
};
...

Now it won't compile, here's the first error thrown by GCC:

prog.cpp:5:8: error: 'void foo::foo_method_1()' is private
   void foo_method_1(){};

From that you know, that you have to move the foo_method_1 to the protected section. So it will look like this:

class foo{
    private:
        int foo_member_var;
    protected:
        void foo_method_1(){};
};
...

Now it will compile. You have to repeat this process for every single method and member in your class. For public section you can do it in the same way as described above.

Answered By - Tomasz Kasperczyk

Answer Checked By - Marie Seifert (WPSolving Admin)