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AccessmodifiersWikipedia,thefreeencyclopedia

Accessmodifiers
FromWikipedia,thefreeencyclopedia

Accessmodifiers(oraccessspecifiers)arekeywordsinobjectorientedlanguagesthatsettheaccessibility
ofclasses,methods,andothermembers.Accessmodifiersareaspecificpartofprogramminglanguage
syntaxusedtofacilitatetheencapsulationofcomponents.[1]
InC++,thereareonlythreeaccessmodifiers.C#extendsthenumberofthemtofive,whileJavahasfour
accessmodifiers,[2]butthreekeywordsforthispurpose.InJava,havingnokeywordbeforedefaultstothe
packageprivatemodifier.Accessspecifiersforclasses:Whenaclassisdeclaredaspublic,itisaccessible
tootherclassesdefinedinthesamepackageaswellasthosedefinedinotherpackages.Thisisthemost
commonlyusedspecifierforclasses.Aclasscannotbedeclaredasprivate.Ifnoaccessspecifierisstated,
thedefaultaccessrestrictionswillbeapplied.Theclasswillbeaccessibletootherclassesinthesame
packagebutwillbeinaccessibletoclassesoutsidethepackage.Whenwesaythataclassisinaccessible,it
simplymeansthatwecannotcreateanobjectofthatclassordeclareavariableofthatclasstype.The
protectedaccessspecifiertoocannotbeappliedtoaclass.

Contents
1Namesofkeywords
2ExampleinC++
3References
3.1Notes
3.2Bibliography

Namesofkeywords
C++usesthethreemodifierscalledpublic,protected,andprivate.C#hasthemodifierspublic,protected
,internal,private,andprotectedinternal.Javahaspublic,package,protected,andprivate.Theaccess
modifierpackageisthedefaultandused,ifanyotheraccessmodifierkeywordismissing.Thisisnotthe
caseinC++,whereanabsencemeansthattheobjectisaccessedprivately.Themeaningofthesemodifiers
maydifferfromonelanguagetoanother.Acomparisonofthekeywords,orderedfromthemostrestrictive
tothemostopen,andtheirmeaninginthesethreelanguagesfollows.Theirvisibilityrangesfromthesame
classtothepackagewheretheclassisdefinedtoageneralaccesspermission.Below,themaximalaccessis
writtenintothetable.

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Keyword

C#
C++
Getrecommendationsfromyourfriends:

private

class

class

protectedinternal

sameassemblyand

derivedclasses

Java
Facebook

class

protected

derivedclasses

derivedclasses
derivedclasses and/or
withinsamepackage

package

withinitspackage

publicinternal

sameassembly

public

everybody

everybody

everybody

ExampleinC++
#include<iostream>
usingstd::cout;
usingstd::endl;

structB{//defaultaccessmodifierinsidestructispublic
voidset_n(intv){n=v;}
voidf(){cout<<"B::f"<<endl;}
protected:
intm,n;//B::m,B::nareprotected
private:
intx;
};

structD:B{
usingB::m;//D::mispublic
intget_n(){returnn;}//B::nisaccessiblehere,butnotoutside
//intget_x(){returnx;}//ERROR,B::xisinaccessiblehere
private:
usingB::f;//D::fisprivate
};

intmain(){
Dd;

//d.x=2;//ERROR,private
//d.n=2;//ERROR,protected
d.m=2;//protectedB::misaccessibleasD::m

d.set_n(2);//callsB::set_n(int)
cout<<d.get_n()<<endl;//output:2

//d.f();//ERROR,B::fisinaccessibleasD::f

B&b=d;//breferencesdand"views"itasbeingtypeB

//b.x=3;//ERROR,private
//b.n=3;//ERROR,protected
//b.m=3;//ERROR,B::misprotected

b.set_n(3);//callsB::set_n(int)
//cout<<b.get_n();//ERROR,'structB'hasnomembernamed'get_n'

b.f();//callsB::f()
return0;
}

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References
Notes
1. Mayo2002,pp.199.
2. http://javapapers.com/corejava/accessmodifiersinjavaexplain/

Bibliography
Mayo,Joseph(2002),CSharpUnleashed(http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=XdHYaEIl9gC),
Samspublishing,ISBN9780672321221

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