Thread: Access Modifiers

So something that most (if not all) of us have seen and noticed is the different styles of access modifiers in C++, Java, and C#.

In C++ you do things like this:

Code:

class X
{
public:
    int i, j, k;
    string str;
    double d1, d2, d3;
private:
   int a, b, c;
   float d, e, f;
protected:
   char m, n, o, p;
}

Whereas in Java or C# it would look something along these lines:

Code:

class X
{
    public int i, j, k;
    public string str;
    public double d1, d2, d3;
    private a, b, c;
    private float d, e, f;
    protected char m, n, o, p;
}

Although this isn't the best example, I couldn't think of a better one off the fly.

Anyways, why do you think the programming community has shifted to a position where you have do declare everything as being "public", "private", etc. on each line instead of just declaring a section as "public" by using "public:" as you do in C++? Do you get what I am saying?

In C++ you say "public:" and from that point foreword everything is public until you either end the class or you declare some other access modifier such as private or protected.

In C#, however, you have to write "public" on every declaration that you want to be public...and it seems tedious and cumbersome. Why has the programming community shifted to doing it that way?

I actually prefer the C# way over the C++ way. It looks better, gets better structured and is regular. Perhaps it's just my pedantic way of coding .

The reason I prefer the C++ way is because a lot of classes I make have a lot of variables in them (I'm sure yours do too), and it gets annoying typing "public" or "private" so many times.