C++ Primer, Fifth Edition

15.6. Class Scope under Inheritance

Each class defines its own scope (§7.4, p. 282) within which its members are defined. Under inheritance, the scope of a derived class is nested (§2.2.4, p. 48) inside the scope of its base classes. If a name is unresolved within the scope of the derived class, the enclosing base-class scopes are searched for a definition of that name.

The fact that the scope of a derived class nests inside the scope of its base classes can be surprising. After all, the base and derived classes are defined in separate parts of our program’s text. However, it is this hierarchical nesting of class scopes that allows the members ...