C++ - Inheritance type: public, protected, private

-- Members.

 

+------------+----------------+--------------+

| type        | superclass   + subclass    |

+------------+----------------+--------------+

| public        |  public        |  public        |

| public        |  protected  |  protected  |

| public        |  private      |  N/A            |

+-------------+---------------+---------------+

| protected |  public         |  protected  |

| protected |  protected   |  protected  |

| protected |  private       |  N/A            |

+-------------+---------------+---------------+

| private      |  public        |  private       |

| private      |  protected  |  private       |

| private      |  private      |  N/A             |

+------------------------------+---------------+

 

-- Convert from sub-class to super-class

 

#include <cstdlib>
#include <stdio.h>
#include <iostream>

using namespace std;

class A {

public:

int i;
};

class B : protected A {   // public, protected, private
};
                                                                                         
int main(int argc, char *argv[])                                                        
{                                                                                       
                                                                                        
    B *b = new B();                                                                     
                                                                                        
    A * a = b;       // It will have a compiler error, it can be fixed by define class B is inherited from class A as public type.
    return 0;                                                                 
}

 

The rule is: the conversion can work when there the super-class's public attribute can be accessed, i.e, when a->public_member(s) is readable; otherwise,

As for B, the super's member i is not accessable from out side since B is protected inherited from A, so if we can convert B to A, but the A's member i is defined as public, in other words, B's member i can be accessed through a pointer from class A; this is illegial with C++'s syntax.