What are Brief Access Specifiers and Types of Access Specifiers In Java?
In Java, access specifiers (also known as access modifiers) are keywords that determine the visibility or accessibility of classes, methods, and variables. They control how the members of a class can be accessed from other classes. There are four main types of access specifiers in Java:
public
are accessible from any other class in any package.public
when you want to allow access to a member from any other class.public class MyClass {
public int myPublicVariable;
public void myPublicMethod() {
// method implementation
}
}
private
are accessible only within the class in which they are declared. They are not visible to any other class, even those in the same package.private
to encapsulate data and restrict access to it, promoting data hiding.public class MyClass {
private int myPrivateVariable;
private void myPrivateMethod() {
// method implementation
}
}
protected
are accessible within the same package and also by subclasses (even if they are in different packages).protected
when you want to allow access to subclasses and classes in the same package.public class MyClass {
protected int myProtectedVariable;
protected void myProtectedMethod() {
// method implementation
}
}
class MyClass {
int myDefaultVariable; // default access
void myDefaultMethod() {
// method implementation
}
}
These access specifiers help in implementing encapsulation, which is one of the fundamental principles of object-oriented programming.