Modifying Private Members of a base class

[dmanniteaux]

Hi,

I am having trouble modifying a private member of a base class when using inheritance. Can please shed light on why this doesn't work and explain a workaround if one is needed.

class Player
{
public:

virtual void setName(string s)
{}

private:

string name;
};

class HumanPlayer : public Player
{
public:

void setName(string s)
{
name = "h" + s;
}

private:
};

This gives me an error on compilation saying name is private and thus can't be modified. Shouldn't inheritance allow me to modify it?

Any help is appreciated!

[hamsterman]

No. If you want the child to modify it, make it protected.