Why does C# not provide the C++ style 'friend' keyword?
- by Ash
The C++ friend keyword allows a class A to designate class B as it's friend. This allows Class B to access the private/protected members of class A.
I've never read anything as to why this was left out of C# (and VB.NET). Most answers to this earlier StackOverflow question seem to be saying it is a useful part of C++ and there are good reasons to use it. In my experience I'd have to agree.
Another question seems to me to be really asking how to do something similar to friend in a C# application. While the answers generally revolve around nested classes, it doesn't seem quite as elegant as using the friend keyword.
The original Design Patterns book uses the friend keyword regularly throughout its examples.
So in summary, why is friend missing from C#, and what is the "best practice" way (or ways) of simulating it in C#?
(By the way, the "internal" keyword is not the same thing, it allows ALL classes within the entire assembly to access internal members, friend allows you to give access to a class to just one other class.)
