C++ inheritance - inaccessible base?

Question

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

Answer 1

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

class Bar : public Foo

Answer 2

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.