Access-specifiers are not foolproof?
- by Nawaz
If I've a class like this,
class Sample
{
private:
int X;
};
Then we cannot access X from outside, so this is illegal,
Sample s;
s.X = 10; // error - private access
But we can make it accessible without editing the class! All we need to do is this,
#define private public //note this define!
class Sample
{
private:
int X;
};
//outside code
Sample s;
s.X = 10; //no error!
Working code at ideone : http://www.ideone.com/FaGpZ
That means, we can change the access-specifiers by defining such macros just before the class definition, or before #include <headerfile.h>,
#define public private //make public private
//or
#define protected private //make protected private
//or
#define so on
Isn't it a problem with C++ (Macros/access-specifiers/whatever)?
Anyway, the point of this topic is:
Using macros, we can easily violate encapsulation. Access-specifiers are not foolproof! Am I right?
