Newsgroups: comp.lang.c++
Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!wuarchive!uunet!stanford.edu!leland.Stanford.EDU!denisb
From: denisb@leland.Stanford.EDU (Denis Bohm)
Subject: Re: Public vs Private header files in C++
Message-ID: <1991Jun5.025457.4116@leland.Stanford.EDU>
Organization: AIR, Stanford University
References: <5243@servax0.essex.ac.uk> <18759@prometheus.megatest.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 5 Jun 91 02:54:57 GMT
Lines: 28

A very simple way to really make something private is to hide those
private variables into a struct that is not defined in the public
header file (this also lets you change the hidden state store in
the class without having to recompile clients that use the class):

foo.h:
------
class foo {
  struct foo_hidden* hidden;
public:
  foo();
};

foo.c:
------
#include "foo.h"

struct foo_hidden {
  int hidden_variable;
};

foo:foo()
{
  hidden = new struct foo_hidden;
}


Denis Bohm