This link talks about allowing more restrictive access to a derived class method.
Q. What is the reason for allowing this in C++?
Languages such as Java & C# don't allow it. Is it useful in some cases? If so please help me understand.
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What's in the link? Make this question useful for future readers too. – Bathsheba Nov 14 '14 at 16:57
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3C++ and Java and C# are different languages. They have different philosophies. – Nov 14 '14 at 17:01
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It has more to do with it never being disallowed. And now it's too late: too much code would break. Do remember that C++ is a considerably older language than either Java or C#.
But the C++ philosophy inspires you to ask "why disallow it?". It could even be useful: some folk exploit it and make overridden methods private. The amount of documentation you should attach to a private method can be significantly less than a public method. This means you don't repeat yourself and are compelled to rely on the public / protected method in a base class for comments.
Bathsheba
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