185. Friend Function

Question.5

A developer adds 8 friend functions to a class:

class Sensor {
   int raw;
   float calibrated;
   uint32_t timestamp;
   friend void log_raw(Sensor&);
   friend void log_cal(Sensor&);
   friend void reset_raw(Sensor&);
   friend void reset_cal(Sensor&);
   friend void validate(Sensor&);
   friend void serialize(Sensor&);
   friend void compare(Sensor&, Sensor&);
   friend void debug_dump(Sensor&);
};

Is this good practice?

Need Help? Refer to the Quick Guide below

Yes -- friend functions are flexible and convenient
No -- with 8 friends accessing all private members, encapsulation is effectively destroyed; the private data is accessible to nearly as many functions as if it were public
Yes -- as long as each friend has a specific purpose
No -- but only because 8 is too many; 4 would be acceptable

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