Given a Teacher class that derives from a Faculty class, how would I handle the name of a Teacher object, which is defined as a private member in Faculty but not in Teacher, for copy control?

// example code for the two classes
class Faculty{
public:
/* constructor

   copy constructor

   destructor

   assignment operator
*/

string get_name() const{
return name;

private:
string name;
};

class Teacher : public Faculty{};

Assuming that Faculty class has a functioning copy control

// Copy constructor
Teacher(const Teacher& rhs) : Faculty(rhs){
     name = rhs.name; 
}

This line doesn't compile because it tries to access a private member of Faculty. Is this line needed or is the name of the copy already set to rhs.name by the initialization list, Faculty(rhs)? Would name be accessible if I directly define a string name in the private field of Teacher?

// Assignment operator
Teacher& operator=(const Teacher& rhs){
     Faculty::operator=(rhs);
     if(this != &rhs){
          name = rhs.name; // same issue 
     }
     return *this;
}

Same issue as copy control, is this needed or is the name already changed to rhs.name by the Faculty class's assignment operator?

CodePudding user response：

Is this line needed or is the name of the copy already set to rhs.name by the initialization list, Faculty(rhs)?

No the line is not needed (assuming a default or properly implemented Faculty copy constructor). The Faculty constructor will assign or initialise name for you properly.

Would name be accessible if I directly define a string name in the private field of Teacher?

Yes, kind of. But it will be an entirely separate instance of name. You don't want to do this. You only want name defined once.