C++ Encapsulation

"Encapsulation" comes from "capsule". It means putting things together, closing them in a package, and the "things" we are talking about here are data and functions. Programming without encapsulation means that functions dealing with data are "floating around", somewhere in your code, and though they deal with your data and even take that particular type as input, they are separated from your data.

C++ example of encapsulation

In below example you can see that color attribute now defined as private so no direct access to attribute can be made. Also we created 2 new functions.

First function will set the value for color and it's called: setColor() this function does not have a return value so return type is set as void and it will take a string attribute(string new Color;) in order to use it as a value for the attribute color

Second function will get the value of color and it's called: getColor() this function does have a return value so return type is set as string and it will not take attributes/parameters.

#include <iostream>
#include <string>
using namespace std;

class Car {        
 private:              
    string color;        
    string make;         
    string model;
    
 public:             
    string getColor() { 
      return color;
    }
    void setColor(string newcolor) { 
      color = newcolor;
    }
};


int main() {

  Car newCar;  
  newCar.setColor("Red");
  cout << "encapsulation example print color: " <<newCar.getColor() << "\n"; 
  return 0;
}

Output

encapsulation example print color: Red

Why Encapsulation?

It is considered good practice to declare your class attributes as private. Encapsulation ensures better control of your data, because developers can change one part of the code without affecting other parts. it will also increase data security.

Conclusion

In this page (written and validated by A. Gawali) you learned about C++ Encapsulation . What's Next? If you are interested in completing Cpp tutorial, your next topic will be learning about: Cpp Inheritance.

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