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Object Oriented Programming Using

[ES203]
Dr. Subhash Chand Gupta
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Friend Function & Class

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Friend functions
• A friend function is a function that can access the private
members of a class as though it were a member of that
class.

• To declare a function as a friend of a class, precede the

function prototype in the class definition with the keyword
friend.

• To make a function as a friend of a class, it is declared

prototype inside the class either in private or in public
section with keyword friend before its
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Declaration of friend function in C++

• We can define the friend function as a normal

function to access the data of the class.

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Declaration of friend function in C++

No friend keyword is used in the definition.

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Example of Declaration of Friend Function:

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There are some points to remember while implementing friend

functions in our program:
• A friend function can be declared in the private or public
section of the class.
• It can be called like a normal function without using the object.
• A friend function is not in the scope of the class, of which it is
a friend.
• A friend function is not invoked using the class object as it is
not in the scope of the class.
• A friend function cannot access the private and protected data
members of the class directly. It needs to make use of a class
object and then access the members using the dot operator.
• A friend function can be a global function or a member of
another class.

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class sample{
int length, width;
public:
sample(int len, int bre){
length=len, width =bre; }
friend void calcArea(sample s); //friend function declaration
};
//friend function definition
void calcArea(sample s){
cout<<"Area = "<<s.length * s. width;
}
int main()
{ sample s1(10,15);
calcArea(s1);
return 0;
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}
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class Box {
double width;
public:
void setWidth( double wid );
friend void printWidth( Box box ); };

void Box::setWidth( double wid ) { width = wid; }

// Note: printWidth() is not a member function of any class.
void printWidth( Box box )
{
/* Because printWidth() is a friend of Box, it can directly access any
member of this class */
cout << "Width of box : " << box.width <<endl;
}

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int main( )
{
Box box;
// set box width without member function
box.setWidth(10.0);
// Use friend function to print the wdith.
printWidth( box );
return 0; }
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 Other example
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#include <iostream>
using namespace std;
class XYZ
{
private: int num=100; char ch='Z';
public: friend void disp(XYZ obj);
};
Void disp(XYZ obj)
{
cout<<obj.num<<endl; cout<<obj.ch<<endl;
}
int main()
{
XYZ obj; disp(obj); return 0;
} 11
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Friend Class
• Friend class can access private and
protected members of the class to which it
is a friend.

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class A{
……
friend class B;
};
class B
{ ……..
};
B is a friend of class A. So class B can access the
private and protected members of class A.
But this does not mean that class A can access private
and protected members of the class B. Note that the
friendship is not mutual unless we make it so.
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#include <iostream> class ABC

using namespace std; {
class XYZ public: void disp(XYZ obj)
{ { cout<<obj.ch<<endl;
private: char ch='A'; cout<<obj.num<<endl;
int num = 11; }
public: };
Int a; int main()
friend class ABC; {
}; ABC obj; XYZ obj2;
obj.disp(obj2);
return 0; } 14
 Friend Class Amity School of Engineering & Technology

using namespace std; class printClass{

class Area{ public:
int length , breadth , area; void printArea(Area a){
public: cout<<"Area = "<<a.area;
Area(int len, int bre) }
{ };
length=len;breadth=bre; int main(){
} Area a(10,15);
void calcArea(){ a.calcArea();
area = length * breadth; printClass p;
} p.printArea(a);
friend class printClass;
}; return 0;
}

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Addition of private members of two different classes using friend Function

#include <iostream> class B {

using namespace std; private:
int numB;
class B;
public:
class A { B(): numB(1) { }
private: friend int add(A , B);
int numA; };
public: int add(A objectA1, B objectB1)
{
A(){ numA=12;}
return (objectA1.numA +
friend int add(A, B); objectB1.numB);
}; }

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int main()
{
A objectA;
B objectB;
cout<<"Sum: "<< add(objectA, objectB);
return 0;
}

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 Properties of Friend Function
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• Friend of the class can be member of some other class.

• Friend of one class can be friend of another class or all the
classes in one program, such a friend is known as GLOBAL
FRIEND.
• Friend can access the private or protected members of the
class in which they are declared to be friend, but they can use
the members for a specific object.
• Friends are non-members hence do not get “this” pointer.
• Friends, can be friend of more than one class, hence they can
be used for message passing between the classes.
• Friend can be declared anywhere (in public, protected or
private section) in the class.

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 Array of Objects
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• Like array of other user-defined data types, an

array of type class can also be created.
• The array of type class contains the objects of
the class as its individual elements.
• Thus, an array of a class type is also known as
an array of objects.
• An array of objects is declared in the same
way as an array of any built-in data type.
Syntax:
class_name array_name [size] ;
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Array of Objects
#include void main()
<iostream> {
class MyClass MyClass obs[4];
{ int i;
int x; for(i=0; i < 4; i++)
public: {obs[i].setX(i); } Output
void setX(int i) { x for(i=0; i < 4; i++) obs[0].getX(): 0
= i; } { obs[1].getX(): 1
int getX() { return cout << "obs[" << i << "].getX(): " << obs[2].getX(): 2
x; } obs[i].getX() << "\n"; obs[3].getX(): 3
}; }
getch(); }
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#include<iostream.h>
#include<conio.h>
class Employee
{ int Id; char Name[25];
int Age; long Salary;
public: void GetData() //Statement 1 : Defining GetData()
{
cout<<"\n\tEnter Employee Id : ";
cin>>Id; cout<<"\n\tEnter Employee Name : ";
cin>>Name; cout<<"\n\tEnter Employee Age : ";
cin>>Age;
cout<<"\n\tEnter Employee Salary : ";
cin>>Salary;
}
void PutData() //Statement 2 : Defining PutData()
{
cout<<"\n"<<Id<<"\t"<<Name<<"\t"<<Age<<"\t"<<Salary;
} }; 21
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void main() { int i;

Employee E[3];
//Statement 3 : Creating Array of 3 Employees
for(i=0;i<3;i++)
{ cout<<"\nEnter details of "<<i+1<<"
Employee";
E[i].GetData();
}
cout<<"\nDetails of Employees";
for(i=0;i<3;i++) E[i].PutData();
}

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Constant Member functions and Objects

• const objects require const functions
– Member functions declared const cannot modify their object
– const must be specified in function prototype and definition
– Prototype:
ReturnType FunctionName(param1,param2…) const;
– Definition:
ReturnType FunctionName(param1,param2…) const { …}
– Example:
int A::getValue() const { return
private DataMember };
• Returns the value of a data member but doesn’t modify anything so is declared
const
• Constructors / Destructors cannot be const
– They need to initialize variables, therefore modifying them
 Constant Member functions
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 The const member functions are the functions which

are declared as constant in the program.
 The object called by these functions cannot be
modified.
 It is recommended to use const keyword so that
accidental changes to object are avoided.
 A const member function can be called by any type of
object. Non-const functions can be called by non-const
objects only. syntax
datatype function_name const ();
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Constant Member functions

Output
The value using object d : 28
The value using object d1 : 8
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Thank You

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