README.md

Accessing Class Members in C++

In this segment of our C++ course, we'll explore how to access the different members of a class. This includes the attributes (data members) and methods (member functions) that define what a class knows and can do.

🚪 Public vs Private Access

When we define a class, we categorize its members as either public or private:

• Public Members can be accessed from anywhere outside the class where the object is visible.
• Private Members can only be accessed by functions that are part of the class.

Let's consider a Car class to understand this concept better.

class Car {
public:
    // Public attribute
    string model;

    // Public method
    void startEngine() {
        cout << "Engine started!" << endl;
    }

private:
    // Private attribute
    string engineSerialNumber;

    // Private method
    void authenticateDriver() {
        // ... some code to authenticate the driver
    }
};

In this example:

• Any code that creates a Car object can set or get the model and call the startEngine() method directly.
• The engineSerialNumber and authenticateDriver() method cannot be accessed directly from outside the class.

🔑 Accessing Public Members

You can access public members using the dot operator . on an object. Here's an example of how to do this:

Car myCar;          // Create a Car object
myCar.model = "SUV";  // Accessing public data member
myCar.startEngine();  // Calling public member function

🔒 Accessing Private Members

To access private members, you typically use public methods that act as "getters" and "setters". These methods provide controlled access to the private members:

class Car {
public:
    // Setter for private member
    void setEngineSerialNumber(string serial) {
        // You might include checks or logic here
        engineSerialNumber = serial;
    }

    // Getter for private member
    string getEngineSerialNumber() {
        // You might include logic to control who can get this information
        return engineSerialNumber;
    }

private:
    string engineSerialNumber;
};

// ...

Car myCar;
myCar.setEngineSerialNumber("123ABC456");  // Set private member
string serial = myCar.getEngineSerialNumber();  // Get private member

In this adjusted Car class example, we've added public "setter" and "getter" methods to write and read the private engineSerialNumber.