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panJames

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Friend classes and methods

Hello experts!

To declare method of class A a friend of class B this method needs to be declared above declaration of class B.

To declare entire class A a friend of class B class A does not need to be declared above declaration of class B.

Why does compiler works this way, what logic is behind it?

#include <iostream>
using namespace std;

class X;

class Y {
public:
  void print(X& x);
};

class X {
  int a, b;
  friend void Y::print(X& x);
  	  	  	  	
public:
  X() : a(1), b(2) { }
};

void Y::print(X& x) {
  cout << "a is " << x.a << endl;
  cout << "b is " << x.b << endl;
}

int main() {
  X xobj;
  Y yobj;
  yobj.print(xobj);
}

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#include <iostream>
using namespace std;

class X {
  int a, b;
  friend class F;
public:
  X() : a(1), b(2) { }
};

class F {
public:
  void print(X& x) {
    cout << "a is " << x.a << endl;
    cout << "b is " << x.b << endl;
  }
};

int main() {
  X xobj;
  F fobj;
  fobj.print(xobj);
}

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