why private?
Author
Hello
Data are often declared as private in OOP.
I wonder wether it is, in some cases, a useless precaution.
I mean , If I write my own game and nobody else have access to my code, why should I protect my own data ?
To prevent the data from assuming unwished values , it should be better to write , when necessary, something like if (x >= 100 ) x = 100; rather than a lot of access functions
Thanks in advance for your support
It isn't terribly important, but it is helpful to develop the habit of having member data only altered by the object it is contained in. I personally don't make most of my data private for pretty much the same reason.
Quote:Original post by AlbertoT
Hello
Data are often declared as private in OOP.
I wonder wether it is, in some cases, a useless precaution.
I mean , If I write my own game and nobody else have access to my code, why should I protect my own data ?
To prevent the data from assuming unwished values , it should be better to write , when necessary, something like if (x >= 100 ) x = 100; rather than a lot of access functions
Thanks in advance for your support
its part of OOP.
often you can only access private members when the object provides you with a function. even if it has just one line of code. sure when you write your own code and no one else is working with you its no problem to give a **** about private members.
but imagine a group of developers working on several parts of a project at one time. with the right class design(which also includes private class members) you can prevent many errors which would be hard to find when they occur later in the project.
greets deviceLost
the concept of oop is
1. let the objects alter themselfs object->move(direction) instead of moveobject(object)
2. class members are private by default and you can add functions to access data
now imagine your object is in a certain state and the information you could access directly because you declared it public is invalid you had to check whether this information is valid or not where ever you access it
this a by far more work than a function that returns the information you need
small helper classes that just serve as containers(you could replace them with structs) of course don t need private members, but you should really be strict and make everything private except when you gain a advantage e.g.: increased performance
now in gameprogramming you could for example create a entity class and add a member
Vector origin;
make this private and accessing it by a memberfunction would be overkill because you access it serveral hundret times each frame
3. its a matter of code organisation and layout so don t make things public if you don t need it public
just a node
you certainly have heard about alignment
you can mix the public: protected: and private: statements in order to get perfect memory alignment
1. let the objects alter themselfs object->move(direction) instead of moveobject(object)
2. class members are private by default and you can add functions to access data
now imagine your object is in a certain state and the information you could access directly because you declared it public is invalid you had to check whether this information is valid or not where ever you access it
this a by far more work than a function that returns the information you need
small helper classes that just serve as containers(you could replace them with structs) of course don t need private members, but you should really be strict and make everything private except when you gain a advantage e.g.: increased performance
now in gameprogramming you could for example create a entity class and add a member
Vector origin;
make this private and accessing it by a memberfunction would be overkill because you access it serveral hundret times each frame
3. its a matter of code organisation and layout so don t make things public if you don t need it public
just a node
you certainly have heard about alignment
you can mix the public: protected: and private: statements in order to get perfect memory alignment
When other people (or yourself, after a period of time) use your classes, it will be easier to understand how the class works. For example, one cannot change vital information that the class uses.
Quote:Original post by Pipo DeClownOne cannot easily change said information. [wink]
When other people (or yourself, after a period of time) use your classes, it will be easier to understand how the class works. For example, one cannot change vital information that the class uses.
My rule of thumb is:
Use private scope variables when it is necessary to change other values too, like if you alter a transformation matrix and let some update mechanism know that something has changed (by means of bool vars). Use public scoped variables otherwise.
cheers
Use private scope variables when it is necessary to change other values too, like if you alter a transformation matrix and let some update mechanism know that something has changed (by means of bool vars). Use public scoped variables otherwise.
cheers
Quote:Original post by AlbertoT
To prevent the data from assuming unwished values , it should be better to write , when necessary, something like if (x >= 100 ) x = 100; rather than a lot of access functions
So why clutter up your code with checks like this ? Better put that check into the access function. This also allows to easily change the 100 to 50, in case thats needed.
In C++ you can inline those accessor functions, so you do not even loose performance, but gain flexibility, i.e. you may alter your data structures without the need to change the rest of your program.
I love seeing code like this:
I think a lot of books overstress data-hiding (causing people to write code like the above). If I'm writing code I will use a lot, I bother with privatizing things - but not for a one-time thing.
class SomeClass{ private: int data; public: void SetData( int data ) { this->data = data; } int GetData( ) { return data; }}I think a lot of books overstress data-hiding (causing people to write code like the above). If I'm writing code I will use a lot, I bother with privatizing things - but not for a one-time thing.
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