C++ inheritance - inaccessible base?

Question

I seem to be unable to use a base class as a function parameter, have I messed up my inheritance?

I have the following in my main:

int some_ftn(Foo *f) { /* some code */ };
Bar b;
some_ftn(&b);

And the class Bar inheriting from Foo in such a way:

class Bar : Foo
{
public:
    Bar();
    //snip

private:
    //snip
};

Should this not work? I don't seem to be able to make that call in my main function

Solution 1

You have to do this:

class Bar : public Foo
{
    // ...
}

The default inheritance type of a class in C++ is private, so any public and protected members from the base class are limited to private. struct inheritance on the other hand is public by default.

Solution 2

By default, inheritance is private. You have to explicitly use public:

class Bar : public Foo

Comments

[Travis Gockel]

To expand: In a class , inheritance is private . In a struct , inheritance is public by default.

[Mital Vora]

I have seen some recent code with class Bar : virtual Foo, I could not find any documentation and details about virtual mode of inheritance, does anybody know about it explain it ?