C++ inheritance - inaccessible base?

176
votes

I seem to be unable to use a base class as a function parameter, have I messed up my inheritance?

I have the following in my main:

int some_ftn(Foo *f) { /* some code */ };
Bar b;
some_ftn(&b);

And the class Bar inheriting from Foo in such a way:

class Bar : Foo
{
public:
    Bar();
    //snip

private:
    //snip
};

Should this not work? I don't seem to be able to make that call in my main function

2
c++inheritance

2 Answers

314
votes

You have to do this:

class Bar : public Foo
{
    // ...
}

The default inheritance type of a class in C++ is private, so any public and protected members from the base class are limited to private. struct inheritance on the other hand is public by default.

36
votes

By default, inheritance is private. You have to explicitly use public:

class Bar : public Foo