Friend Functions | C++ Programming
Friend Functions Friend Function A function is said to be a friend function of a class if it can access the members (including private members) of the class even if it is not the member function of this class. In other words, a friend function is a non-member function that has access to the private members of the class. Characteristics of a friend function: A friend function can be either global or a member of some other class. Since the friend function is not a part of the class, it can be declared anywhere in the public, private, and protected sections of the class. It cannot be called by using the object of the class since it is not in the scope of the class. It is called a normal function without the help of any object. Unlike member functions, it cannot access member names directly. So, it has to use an object name and dot operator with each member name (like A.x) It, generally, takes objects as arguments. The concepts of data hiding and encapsulation dictate that private