When Should You Use C Private Inheritance?

Exploring the Hidden Utility of C Private Inheritance

C private inheritance, unlike its protected counterpart, has gained prominence in modern development. However, its practical applications often remain unclear. This article delves into various scenarios where private inheritance proves to be a valuable tool.

According to a developer, private inheritance finds multiple uses:

1. Selective Interface Exposure:

Private inheritance allows for exposing a limited subset of a base class's interface. Public inheritance would falsely suggest inheritance, violating Liskov substitutability. Composition, on the other hand, necessitates the creation of forwarding functions, adding boilerplate code.

2. Safe Derivation from Concrete Classes:

When inheriting from a concrete class lacking a virtual destructor, public inheritance risks undefined behavior if deleted via a pointer-to-base. Private inheritance prevents this by prohibiting such deletions.

3. Deriving Privately from STL Containers:

To utilize specific functions from an STL container without exposing the entire interface, private inheritance can be employed. This approach minimizes code duplication and maintains a clean separation of concerns.

4. Implementing the Adapter Pattern Internally:

Private inheritance aids in implementing the Adapter Pattern by allowing inheritance from the Adapted class without the need for an enclosed instance to which methods are forwarded.

5. Creating Private Interfaces:

Private inheritance facilitates the creation of private interfaces. For instance, it enables an Observer class to subscribe itself to a Subject without revealing the Observer interface to the rest of the system.

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