在为类实现树算法时，教授给我们的框架代码将树类作为节点类的朋友。

它实际上没有任何好处，除了让你在不使用设置函数的情况下访问成员变量。

在工作中，我们广泛地请朋友来测试代码。这意味着我们可以为主应用程序代码提供适当的封装和信息隐藏。但我们也可以有单独的测试代码，使用朋友来检查内部状态和数据进行测试。

可以说，我不会将friend关键字作为设计的重要组成部分。

树的例子是一个很好的例子: 在一些不同的类中实现一个对象 具有继承关系。

也许您还需要它具有一个构造函数protected和force 人们用你的“朋友”工厂。

．.． 好吧，坦白地说，没有它你也能生活。

友函数和类提供对类的私有和受保护成员的直接访问，以避免在一般情况下破坏封装。大多数使用是与ostream:我们希望能够键入:

Point p;
cout << p;

但是，这可能需要访问Point的私有数据，因此我们定义了重载操作符

friend ostream& operator<<(ostream& output, const Point& p);

然而，这里有明显的封装含义。首先，现在友类或函数可以完全访问类的所有成员，甚至不属于它的需要。其次，类和友元的实现现在交织在一起，以至于类中的内部更改可以破坏友元。

如果您将好友视为类的扩展，那么从逻辑上讲，这就不是问题。但是，在这种情况下，为什么有必要首先把朋友挖出来呢?

在不破坏封装的情况下，要实现“friends”所宣称的相同目标，可以这样做:

class A
{
public:
    void need_your_data(B & myBuddy)
    {
        myBuddy.take_this_name(name_);
    }
private:
    string name_;
};

class B
{
public:
    void print_buddy_name(A & myBuddy)
    {
        myBuddy.need_your_data(*this);
    }
    void take_this_name(const string & name)
    {
        cout << name;
    }
}; 

封装并没有被破坏，类B不能访问A中的内部实现，但结果与我们将B声明为A的朋友是一样的。 编译器将优化掉函数调用，因此这将导致与直接访问相同的指令。

我认为使用“朋友”是一个简单的捷径，有争议的好处，但一定的成本。

简短的回答是:在friend确实可以改善封装时使用它。提高可读性和可用性(操作符<<和>>是典型的例子)也是一个很好的理由。

至于改进封装的例子，专门设计用于处理其他类的内部结构的类(想到了测试类)是很好的候选。

In C++ "friend" keyword is useful in Operator overloading and Making Bridge. 1.) Friend keyword in operator overloading :Example for operator overloading is: Let say we have a class "Point" that has two float variable"x"(for x-coordinate) and "y"(for y-coordinate). Now we have to overload "<<"(extraction operator) such that if we call "cout << pointobj" then it will print x and y coordinate (where pointobj is an object of class Point). To do this we have two option: 1.Overload "operator <<()" function in "ostream" class. 2.Overload "operator<<()" function in "Point" class. Now First option is not good because if we need to overload again this operator for some different class then we have to again make change in "ostream" class. That's why second is best option. Now compiler can call "operator <<()" function:

   1.Using ostream object cout.As: cout.operator<<(Pointobj) (form ostream class).
   2.Call without an object.As: operator<<(cout, Pointobj) (from Point class).

Beacause we have implemented overloading in Point class. So to call this function without an object we have to add"friend" keyword because we can call a friend function without an object. Now function declaration will be As: "friend ostream &operator<<(ostream &cout, Point &pointobj);" 2.) Friend keyword in making bridge : Suppose we have to make a function in which we have to access private member of two or more classes ( generally termed as "bridge" ) . How to do this: To access private member of a class it should be member of that class. Now to access private member of other class every class should declare that function as a friend function. For example : Suppose there are two class A and B. A function "funcBridge()" want to access private member of both classes. Then both class should declare "funcBridge()" as: friend return_type funcBridge(A &a_obj, B & b_obj);I think this would help to understand friend keyword.