Encapsulation

Encapsulation

Encapsulation

Encapsulation:

Encapsulation is one of the fundamental concepts in Java and object-oriented programming, which refers to the mechanism of hiding the implementation details of an object from the outside world and exposing only the necessary information through well-defined interfaces.

Encapsulation is achieved through the use of access modifiers in Java, which are used to restrict the access to the class members (fields and methods) from the outside world. Java has four access modifiers:

  • public: Accessible from anywhere, both inside and outside the class.
  • private: Accessible only from within the same class.
  • protected: Accessible within the same class and subclasses.
  • default (no access modifier specified): Accessible within the same package.

By using these access modifiers, we can control how the class members are accessed from outside the class, and provide a well-defined interface for interacting with the object. This helps to prevent the direct manipulation of the internal state of the object from outside, which can cause unexpected behavior.

Here is an example of encapsulation in Java:

				
					public class Person {
   private String name;
   private int age;

   public String getName() {
      return name;
   }

   public void setName(String name) {
      this.name = name;
   }

   public int getAge() {
      return age;
   }

   public void setAge(int age) {
this.age = age;
   }
}

				
			

In this example, the Person class has two private fields name and age, which can only be accessed from within the same class. The class provides public getter and setter methods for accessing and modifying these fields from outside the class.

Encapsulation provides several benefits in software design, including:

  • Security: Encapsulation helps to prevent the direct manipulation of the internal state of the object from outside, which can cause unexpected behavior or security issues.
  • Modularity: Encapsulation helps to create a modular design by hiding the implementation details of an object, which allows different parts of the system to be developed independently.
  • Flexibility: Encapsulation makes the system more flexible by allowing the implementation of an object to be changed without affecting the rest of the system that uses that object.

 

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