Question

 class a
 {
 public:
 a() : b(5), a1(10) //will firstly initialize a1 then b, so order here doesn't matter
 int a1;
 private:
 int b;
 }

The question is how to change the order (to have b initialized before a1)? I must have public members above private so that solution isn’t okay for me. Of course here I use ints, the problem is more complex but it’s just an example which shows what is my problem.

Answer 1

If I understand you correct you have some kind of style guide saying that public members should be before private.

In that case I would suggest you declare all your member variables private and create accessor functions to them instead. That way you get around it.

class a
 {
 public:
   a() : _a1(5), _b(10) 
   int a1() const { return _a1; }
   void a1(int value) { _a1 = value; }
   int b() const { return _b; }
   void b(int value) { _b = value; }

 private:
   int _a1;
   int _b;
 }

any sane compiler will anyway optimize it so the overhead will be minimal.