Overview of Privacy¶

PRIVATE(...) limits which source contexts may name a declaration. It is a compile-time access rule; it does not change object layout or the external ABI.

Declaration restrictions¶

PRIVATE(MODULE) ::initialize FUNCTION()
{
}

PRIVATE(MODULE) allows use from the current module. A named scope can be used instead when a particular namespace or type owns the API.

Structure member restrictions¶

::vault STRUCT
{
  PRIVATE(CLASS)
  {
    .value VAR I32;
  }

  .read FUNCTION() CONST: I32
  {
    RETURN .value;
  }
}

PRIVATE(CLASS) grants access from the nearest enclosing class-like declaration and its nested contexts. A privacy block applies its scope list to each declaration directly inside the block.

Named-scope access grants¶

PRIVATE(trusted_scope) ::shared_secret FUNCTION(): I32
{
  RETURN 11;
}

::trusted_scope NAMESPACE
{
  ::read_secret FUNCTION(): I32
  {
    RETURN shared_secret();
  }
}

When several scopes appear in PRIVATE(...), access through any one is enough. Privacy is checked during qualified lookup and overload selection; it does not search for a different public declaration after selecting an inaccessible one.

Reference¶

See the Privacy Reference for all scope entries, block restrictions, qualified-name behavior, shadowing, overloads, reopening, and public signatures that mention private types.