Why protected and private inheritance are defined and proposed? I understand some cases private inheritance could be used but it is not recommended. How about protected inheritance? Can anyone offer me an situation in which protected inheritance is a choice? I rarely see this. Thanks so much!

Private inheritance is usually used for mixins---where people inherit to get functionality from the base class, rather than because of "is-a" inheritance. Protected inheritance can also be used for mixins, where the mixed-in functionality is to be available to downstream classes too.

protected inheritance

1 Answers

Private inheritance is usually used for mixins---where people inherit to get functionality from the base class, rather than because of "is-a" inheritance.

Protected inheritance can also be used for mixins, where the mixed-in functionality is to be available to downstream classes too.