受保护的成员只能由类的后代和同一模块中的代码访问。私有成员只能被声明它们的类以及同一模块中的代码访问。

当然，朋友函数把这个扔出窗外，但是。

可以从派生类访问受保护的成员。私立学校则不行。

class Base {

private: 
  int MyPrivateInt;
protected: 
  int MyProtectedInt;
public:
  int MyPublicInt;
};

class Derived : Base
{
public:
  int foo1()  { return MyPrivateInt;} // Won't compile!
  int foo2()  { return MyProtectedInt;} // OK  
  int foo3()  { return MyPublicInt;} // OK
};‌‌

class Unrelated 
{
private:
  Base B;
public:
  int foo1()  { return B.MyPrivateInt;} // Won't compile!
  int foo2()  { return B.MyProtectedInt;} // Won't compile
  int foo3()  { return B.MyPublicInt;} // OK
};

至于“最佳实践”，则视情况而定。如果有人想要从您现有的类中派生一个新类，并且需要访问内部成员，那么将它们设置为Protected，而不是Private。如果它们是私有的，那么您的类就很难轻易继承。

私有访问修饰符和受保护访问修饰符是相同的，只是基类的受保护成员可以在子(派生)类的基类范围之外被访问。 它也同样适用于继承。 但是使用私有修饰符，基类的成员只能在基类的作用域或代码中访问，它的友函数只能是''''

a类的公共成员对所有人都是开放的。

类a的受保护成员不能在a的代码之外访问，但可以从派生自a的任何类的代码访问。

类a的私有成员不能在a的代码之外或从a派生的任何类的代码中访问。

因此，最终，在受保护还是私有之间做出选择是为了回答以下问题:您愿意对派生类的程序员给予多少信任?

默认情况下，假定派生类不可信，并将成员设为private。如果你有一个很好的理由让它的派生类可以自由访问母类的内部内容，那么你可以让它们受到保护。

私有成员只能在定义它们的类中访问。

可在定义受保护成员的类中以及从该类继承的类中访问受保护成员。

编辑:两者都可以被其类的友元访问，如果是受保护成员，则可以被其派生类的友元访问。

编辑2:使用任何在你的问题上下文中有意义的东西。您应该尽可能地将成员设为private，以减少耦合并保护基类的实现，但如果不可能，则使用受保护的成员。查看c++常见问题以更好地理解这个问题。这个关于受保护变量的问题可能也有帮助。

The protected keyword specifies access to class members in the member-list up to the next access specifier (public or private) or the end of the class definition. Class members declared as protected can be used only by the following: Member functions of the class that originally declared these members. Friends of the class that originally declared these members. Classes derived with public or protected access from the class that originally declared these members. Direct privately derived classes that also have private access to protected members. When preceding the name of a base class, the protected keyword specifies that the public and protected members of the base class are protected members of its derived classes. Protected members are not as private as private members, which are accessible only to members of the class in which they are declared, but they are not as public as public members, which are accessible in any function. Protected members that are also declared as static are accessible to any friend or member function of a derived class. Protected members that are not declared as static are accessible to friends and member functions in a derived class only through a pointer to, reference to, or object of the derived class.

保护(c++)