my point was that f() had been defined static then you can't access it from outside the translation unit it is defined in - in other words, it is "private". i'm afraid i'm unclear what your point is.
replyBoth points are related and matter.
replyFor most purposes, not being able to access something, and being able to access something not officially in an interface, where doing so introduces an unpredictable breaking dependency, the practical result is the same: You can't (actually/sensibly) do it.
Then why not define "something" as static, which makes the compiler and linker guarantee that you can't do it?
replyWhat if I want to internally access it from multiple compilation units, but not necessarily encourage downstream users from using it? This is really common.
reply