Member Function Definition

If data members are private within a class how then can they be updated or even inspected? The answer: via access functions (operators) which are associated with the class. These are called member functions.

let us expand our example:

class Fraction {
public:
void create (int, int);^{// here we have our access functions}

private:^{void print();}

int numerator;

};^{int denominator;}

createand printare two functions that access the private members. One possible set of operator declarations is:

void Fraction :: create (int num, int denom) {
numerator = num;^{// this is an update access function}

}^{denominator = denom;}

void Fraction :: print ()
{

}^{cout << ((float) numerator) / ((float) denominator);}

Fraction :: Fraction (int num, int denom) {
numerator = num;^{// this is one form of the constructor}

}^{denominator = denom;}

Fraction f1;// default constructor used here

March 11, 1998

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C201/TAM