{"id":6922,"date":"2014-06-02T11:01:24","date_gmt":"2014-06-02T10:01:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.mentor.com\/colinwalls\/?p=6922"},"modified":"2014-06-02T11:01:24","modified_gmt":"2014-06-02T10:01:24","slug":"struct-vs-class-in-c","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.stage.sw.siemens.com\/embedded-software\/2014\/06\/02\/struct-vs-class-in-c\/","title":{"rendered":"struct vs class in C++"},"content":{"rendered":"

Maybe I should apologize for going on about C++ yet again, but, following on from the recent online lecture series<\/a> that I conducted, I learned that there is a lot of interest in the topic. I also found the experience a very fruitful source of ideas, inspiration and queries – much of this will appear here.<\/p>\n

During the lectures, I would periodically pose a question, which the attendees could answer via the chat. An interesting one was: how does a struct<\/strong> differ from a class<\/strong> in C++? …<\/p>\n

\"1\"<\/a>I will start by defining a struct<\/strong> in C. I would see it as a customized, composite data type, which may be constructed from the existing built-in data types [int<\/strong>, char<\/strong>, etc.], bit fields [integers of specified bit size] and other struct<\/strong>s. This example shows a simple example of a struct<\/strong> definition, along with the declaration of a variable of that type and access to one of the fields. A struct<\/strong> is a handy and flexible way to represent data. Similar facilities exist in most modern programming languages.<\/p>\n

How does a C++ class<\/strong> differ from a C struct<\/strong>? There are a few differences. The key ones are:<\/p>\n