In C++, access specifiers are keywords used to control the visibility and accessibility of class members (variables and functions) within a class. They determine which parts of a class are accessible to other parts of the program.
C++ has three access specifiers:
-
Public: Members declared as public are accessible from anywhere in the program. They can be accessed by objects of the class, as well as by any other code outside the class.
-
Private: Members declared as private are only accessible within the class itself. They cannot be accessed directly by objects of the class or by any other code outside the class. Private members are typically used for internal implementation details and to enforce encapsulation.
-
Protected: Members declared as protected have a level of accessibility between public and private. They are accessible within the class itself and its derived classes. Protected members are often used when implementing inheritance, allowing derived classes to access and modify certain aspects of the base class.
By using access specifiers, you can control the level of visibility and restrict direct access to sensitive data or implementation details, promoting encapsulation and data hiding in object-oriented programming.