1. Introduction

In C++ programming, both struct and class are used to define custom data types, but they have some key differences mainly in terms of default access control and inheritance.

2. Key Points

1. The default access specifier in a struct is public, whereas in a class, it is private.

2. Inheritance in struct is public by default, but it's private in a class.

3. Functionally, both can have member variables, member functions, constructors, destructors, and can use inheritance and polymorphism.

4. struct is often used for plain data structures, while class is used for encapsulating data and functions.

3. Differences

struct	class
Default access specifier is public.	Default access specifier is private.
Default inheritance is public.	Default inheritance is private.
Generally used for passive data structures with public access.	Used for data encapsulation and complex data structures.

4. Example

#include <iostream>
using namespace std;

// struct example
struct StructExample {
    int data;
    StructExample() : data(0) {}
};

// class example
class ClassExample {
    int data;

public:
    ClassExample() : data(0) {}
    int getData() const { return data; }
    void setData(int d) { data = d; }
};

int main() {
    StructExample se;
    cout << "Struct data: " << se.data << endl; // Direct access

    ClassExample ce;
    ce.setData(5);
    cout << "Class data: " << ce.getData() << endl; // Access via member function

    return 0;
}