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POWhy does C# not provide the C++ style 'friend' keyword?
 

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  1. POWhy does C# not provide the C++ style 'friend' keyword?
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    <p>The <a href="http://www.cplusplus.com/doc/tutorial/inheritance/" rel="noreferrer">C++ friend keyword</a> allows a <code>class A</code> to designate <code>class B</code> as its friend. This allows <code>Class B</code> to access the <code>private</code>/<code>protected</code> members of <code>class A</code>.</p> <p>I've never read anything as to why this was left out of C# (and VB.NET). Most answers to this <a href="https://stackoverflow.com/questions/17434/when-should-you-use-friend-in-c">earlier StackOverflow question</a> seem to be saying it is a useful part of C++ and there are good reasons to use it. In my experience I'd have to agree.</p> <p>Another <a href="https://stackoverflow.com/questions/200079/inheritance-trees-and-protected-constructors-in-c#200117">question</a> seems to me to be really asking how to do something similar to <code>friend</code> in a C# application. While the answers generally revolve around nested classes, it doesn't seem quite as elegant as using the <code>friend</code> keyword.</p> <p>The original <a href="http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0201633612" rel="noreferrer">Design Patterns book</a> uses it regularly throughout its examples.</p> <p>So in summary, why is <code>friend</code> missing from C#, and what is the "best practice" way (or ways) of simulating it in C#?</p> <p>(By the way, the <code>internal</code> keyword is <em>not</em> the same thing, it allows <em>all</em> classes within the entire assembly to access <code>internal</code> members, while <code>friend</code> allows you to give a certain class <em>complete access</em> to <em>exactly one</em> other class)</p>
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    1. COi feel protected internal is a good compromise..
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    2. COIt's not too confusing is it? As I said above the GOF book uses it quite often in examples. To me it's no more confusing then internal.
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    3. COIt's easy to answer: C# offers "internal" as access modifier which grants access to the all the code in the same module/assembly. This removes the need for something like friend. In Java the keyword "protected" behaves similarly w.r.t. access from the same package.
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