lee@hhb.UUCP (lee daniels ) (04/11/91)
I believe that C++ is missing a very important access specifier and would like to start a discussion to clarify whether there is merit in this suggestion or whether there is another satisfactory way to acheive the same thing within C++ today. The access specifier similar to the group protection in unix. Large systems are usually made up of subsystems and within a subsystem there is functionality that is intended to be exported for use strictly within the subsystem and not exported to the world. Making the methods private and then calling all other classes in the subsystem a friend grossly abuses the intentions of the friend classification and effectively eliminates the user/private protection level. To be more specific, I am suggesting that "group:" be added as an access specifier and that a class specify those eligible to access its group protected members using "group class xyzzy;" within its declaration. If we want to carry this suggestion one more step, named groups can be supported with the group members defined outside of the individual classes. The floor is now open for flames!! p.s. For those who believe that all access specifiers must start with the letter 'p', "peergroup" could be used instead. Lee Daniels Director, Design Software uucp path: princeton!hhb!lee@uunet.uu.net Racal-Redac, Inc. (201) 848-8000 1000 Wyckoff Avenue, Mahwah, New Jersey 07430