- Variables are used to
store information
Would you ever need to define a variable with the same name as some variable in the base class ??? - If you need to
store new information
in the child class,
you must
define a new variable
The new variable should have a new name
- (And if you
do not
need to
store new information
in the child class,
then you have no need for a variable and
certianly not a variable with the
same name
as some variable in the base class)
- Furthermore,
if you
define
a variable with the
same name
as some variable in the base class,
then the scoping rule will overshadow
the variable in the parent class
You can't access the variables in the parent class; and they become useless.
- Example:
class parent { public: int i1; parent() { i1 = 0; } void f1() { i1 = i1 + 1; // Access i1 in parent class cout << "parent method f1" << endl; cout << "parent's i1 = " << i1 << endl; } }; class child : public parent { public: int i1; }; int main(int argc, char **argv) { child x; x.i1 = 1234; // Access i1 in child class // i1 in parent class inaccessible ! x.f1(); // You need f1() to get to i1 in parent class }
- Example Program:
(Demo above code)
- Prog file: click here