C++ - What is the difference between class and structure?

GeekInterview.com > Interview Questions > Programming > C++

Go To First | Previous Question | Next Question

C++ | Question 4 of 203

What is the difference between class and structure?

Structure: Initially (in C) a structure was used to bundle different type of data types together to perform a particular functionality. But C++ extended the structure to contain functions also. The major difference is that all declarations inside a structure are by default public.

Class: Class is a successor of Structure. By default all the members inside the class are private.

Total Answers and Comments: 13

Last Update: September 18, 2009

Sponsored Links

Best Rated Answer

—

Submitted by: Gagan

There should be no confusions. The only difference between a structure and a class is that all members in a class are private by default whereas they are public in a structure.

Above answer was rated as good by the following members:
OSaienni, vjy_2107

Sorting Options

Page 1 of 2

« First

Last »

July 05, 2005 00:42:34

girish

RE: What is the difference between class and structure?

structure member are public in default and class members are privare in default.

Is this answer useful? Yes | No

March 20, 2006 04:46:33

Sharath

RE: What is the difference between class an...

1:By default the members of structures are public while that for class is private

2: strutures doesn't provide something like data hiding which is provided by the classes

3: structures contains only data while class bind both data and member functions

Is this answer useful? Yes | No

0 3

Overall Rating: -3

November 17, 2006 00:17:33

sunil yadav

RE: What is the difference between class an...

Structure dosen't support the polymorphism inheritance and initilization.

In a Structure all the data types are public but in class they are private.

In a Structure we can't initilse the value to the variable but in class variable we assign the values.

Structuer is a collection of the different data type.

Is this answer useful? Yes | No

0 3

Overall Rating: -3

February 05, 2007 12:04:22

Gagan

RE: What is the difference between class an...

There should be no confusions. The only difference between a structure and a class is that all members in a class are private by default whereas they are public in a structure.

Is this answer useful? Yes | No

2 0

Overall Rating: +2

July 16, 2007 08:58:23

Arun

RE: What is the difference between class an...

Try inheritance polymorphism overloading encapsulation etc.
all these are possible.........

1. struct data is public by default.. but its private in a class
2. class is successor of struct in heirarchy..
3. struct is ovrloaded.. in C++ its not same with class..

Is this answer useful? Yes | No

October 22, 2007 14:46:43

Sanjay Kapoor

RE: What is the difference between class an...

Originally posted by rajalekshmy+r
1)can we provide datahiding with structures? if yes how?
2)can structures suport run time polymorphism? If yes how? By writing code? Again whatever you can do in a class you can do in a struct. Why not write code and see for yourself?

#include <iostream>
using namespace std;

struct Whatever
{
virtual void foo() { }
virtual ~Whatever() { }
};

struct Derived : Whatever
{
void foo() { cout << "value " << value; }
Derived(int n) : Whatever() value(n) { }

private:
int value; // private data member
};

int main()
{
Whatever *pW new Derived(10);
pW->foo(); // virtual call
delete pW;
return 0;
}

Convinced now?

Regards

Paul McKenzie

Is this answer useful? Yes | No

September 04, 2008 04:41:35

sumitv

Member Since: September 2008 Contribution: 1

RE: What is the difference between class and structure?

Structure does support inheritance.

try out the following code.

#include<iostream>

using namespace std;

struct Base
{
int A;
};

struct Derived:public Base
{
int B;
void display();
};

void Derived::display()
{
cout<<endl<<"A "<<A<<endl;
}

int main()
{
Derived D;
D.A 111;
D.display();
getchar();
return 0;
}

Try out private and protected inheritance as well. It works. :)

Regards
Sumit

Is this answer useful? Yes | No

September 13, 2008 10:59:37

susantaown

Member Since: September 2008 Contribution: 1

RE: What is the difference between class and structure?

#include<iostream.h>
#include<conio.h>
#include<stdlib.h>
struct a
{
protected:
int x;
public:
a(int y)
{
x y;
}
void showdata()
{
cout<<"x "<<x;
}
};
void main()
{
a aa(2);
aa.showdata();
getch();
}

structure support inheritance in cpp

Is this answer useful? Yes | No

October 10, 2008 11:08:37

anubhava_b

Member Since: October 2008 Contribution: 1

RE: What is the difference between class and structure?

Similar to difference in default access specifier default inheritance too is different in Class Vs Structures.

Is this answer useful? Yes | No

January 30, 2009 00:23:01

#10

Vins99

Member Since: January 2009 Contribution: 1

RE: What is the difference between class and structure?

A structure and a Class in C++ are same in every aspect expect in structure by default data members and member functions are public and private in case of class.

Is this answer useful? Yes | No

Page 1 of 2

« First

Last »

Go To Top

User Name		Remember Me?
Password

Question Bank