Beginners question about private member functions

[nathaniscool99]

Hello,

I have been given a class diagram where a variable called light_years must be a const int and stored in the space class, but later on that value must be used in the main file.

Below is the space class

class space
{

private:

    static const int LIGHT_YEARS;

public:

    // -Many functions are here-

};

I need to access the value here

#include "stdafx.h"
#include <iostream>
#include "Space.h"

int _tmain(int argc, _TCHAR* argv[])
{
    for (int i=0; i<3; i++)
    {
            8*LIGHT_YEARS;  // I've tried 8*Space::LIGHT_YEARS;
    }

    system("pause");
    return 0;
}

Is there someway to friend the main function or how can I go about doing this? apeciate any help!

[myk45]

You could write a get method(a public interface method) to obtain the private member perhaps?

[phorce]

Yeah, I don't see any other way than what @myk45 said. It's a static variable, meaning it's scope is the class only.

[deceptikon]

Does the constant have to be private? It seems silly to require it to be private and also require it to be accessed directly from outside of the class.