Question

In the following example (apologies for the length) I have tried to isolate some unexpected behaviour I’ve encountered when using nested classes within a class that privately inherits from another. I’ve often seen statements to the effect that there is nothing special about a nested class compared to an unnested class, but in this example one can see that a nested class (at least according to GCC 4.4) can see the public typedefs of a class that is privately inherited by the closing class.

I appreciate that typdefs are not the same as member data, but I found this behaviour surprising, and I imagine many others would, too. So my question is twofold:

1. Is this standard behaviour? (a decent explanation of why would be very helpful)
2. Can one expect it to work on most modern compilers (i.e., how portable is it)?

---

#include <iostream>

class Base {
  typedef int priv_t;
  priv_t priv;
public:
  typedef int pub_t;
  pub_t pub;
  Base() : priv(0), pub(1) {}
};

class PubDerived : public Base {
public:
  // Not allowed since Base::priv is private
  // void foo() {std::cout << priv << "\n";}

  class Nested {
    // Not allowed since Nested has no access to PubDerived member data
    // void foo() {std::cout << pub << "\n";}

    // Not allowed since typedef Base::priv_t is private
    // void bar() {priv_t x=0; std::cout << x << "\n";}
  };

};

class PrivDerived : private Base {
public:
  // Allowed since Base::pub is public
  void foo() {std::cout << pub << "\n";}

  class Nested {
  public:
    // Works (gcc 4.4 - see below)
    void fred() {pub_t x=0; std::cout << x << "\n";}
  };
};

int main() {

  // Not allowed since typedef Base::priv_t private
  // std::cout << PubDerived::priv_t(0) << "\n";

  // Allowed since typedef Base::pub_t is inaccessible
  std::cout << PubDerived::pub_t(0) << "\n"; // Prints 0

  // Not allowed since typedef Base::pub_t is inaccessible
  //std::cout << PrivDerived::pub_t(0) << "\n";

  // Works (gcc 4.4)
  PrivDerived::Nested o;
  o.fred(); // Prints 0
  return 0;
}

Answer 1

Preface: In the answer below I refer to some differences between C++98 and C++03. However, it turns out that the change I’m talking about haven’t made it into the standard yet, so C++03 is not really different from C++98 in that respect (thanks to Johannes for pointing that out). Somehow I was sure I saw it in C++03, but in reality it isn’t there. Yet, the issue does indeed exist (see the DR reference in Johannes comment) and some compilers already implement what they probably consider the most reasonable resolution of that issue. So, the references to C++03 in the text below are not correct. Please, interpret the references to C++03 as references to some hypothetical but very likely future specification of this behavior, which some compilers are already trying to implement.

---

It is important to note that there was a significant change in access rights for nested classes between C++98 and C++03 standards.

In C++98 nested class had no special access rights to the members of enclosing class. It was basically completely independent class, just declared in the scope of the enclosed class. It could only access public members of the enclosing class.

In C++03 nested class was given access rights to the members of the enclosing class as a member of the enclosing class. More precisely, nested class was given the same access rights as a static member function of the enclosing class. I.e. now the nested class can access any members of the enclosing class, including private ones.

For this reason, you might observe the differences between different compilers and versions of the same compiler depending on when they implemented the new specification.

Of course, you have to remember that an object of the nested class is not tied in any way to any specific object of the enclosing class. As far as the actual objects are concerned, these are two independent classes. In order to access the non-static data members or methods of the enclosing class from the nested class you have to have a specific object of the enclosing class. In other words, once again, the nested class indeed behaves as just like a static member function of the enclosing class: it has no specific this pointer for the enclosing class, so it can’t access the non-static members of the enclosing class, unless you make an effort to give it a specific object of the enclosing class to access. Without it the nested class can only access typedef-names, enums, and static members of the enclosing class.

A simple example that illustrates the difference between C++98 and C++03 might look as follows

class E {
  enum Foo { A };
public:
  enum Bar { B };

  class I {
    Foo i; // OK in C++03, error in C++98
    Bar j; // OK in C++03, OK in C++98
  };
};

This change is exactly what allows your PrivDerived::Nested::fred function to compile. It wouldn’t pass compilation in a pedantic C++98 compiler.