accessor/ mutator functions ??

[gqchynaboy]

accessor/ mutator functions what are they and what do they do?...can't find it in the book.

[alpha]

accessors return private data members.

mutators, also called modifiers, modify private data.

this is within a class.
and is usually used for private data members, at least to maintain encapsulation.

i.e.

if you have a class with private int data;

int data;

an accessor with be similar to this:

int get_data() const //preferable to keep this const
//because it does not modify data members
{
  return data;
}

a mutator will be something like this:

void set_data(int temp_data)
{
  data = temp_data;
}

[Mister C]

They are also called get methods "getters" and set methods "setters"