Discussion - Encapsulation, Visibility and Access

Lecture 4 - Slide 38 : 40

Is access control really important in OOP?

Is it really necesary to introduce yet another mechanism, such as friends, to deal with access control?

In C# it is possible to access a private instance variable thorugh a public property of (more or less) the same name. Is this related to our discussion of access control (and to friends)?

The C++ Prog. Lang. (4. edition): Page 574

Minimize the number of methods that relies on the private state of an object
- Reconsider if protected data members are really needed
- Reconsider the use of friends
- Prefer non-member non-friend functions to member functions [Effective C++, Third edition item 23]

Discuss encapsulation, visibility and access