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Understanding Encapsulation in Java

Encapsulation involves declaring class variables as private and providing public get and set methods to access and update them. This prevents direct access to variables from outside the class. Get methods return the variable value while set methods set the value. Encapsulation allows for better control of attributes, making them read-only or write-only, and increased flexibility and security of data.

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138 views3 pages

Understanding Encapsulation in Java

Encapsulation involves declaring class variables as private and providing public get and set methods to access and update them. This prevents direct access to variables from outside the class. Get methods return the variable value while set methods set the value. Encapsulation allows for better control of attributes, making them read-only or write-only, and increased flexibility and security of data.

Uploaded by

Marvin Torre
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Encapsulation

The meaning of Encapsulation, is to make sure that "sensitive" data is hidden


from users. To achieve this, you must:

● declare class variables/attributes as private


● provide public get and set methods to access and update the value of
a private variable

Get and Set


You learned from the previous chapter that private variables can only be
accessed within the same class (an outside class has no access to it). However,
it is possible to access them if we provide public get and set methods.

The get method returns the variable value, and the set method sets the value.

Syntax for both is that they start with either get or set, followed by the name of
the variable, with the first letter in upper case:

Exercise #1
public class Person {

private String name; // private = restricted access

// Getter

public String getName() {

return name;

// Setter

public void setName(String newName) {

this.name = newName;

}
}

Example explained
The get method returns the value of the variable name.

The set method takes a parameter (newName) and assigns it to the name variable.


The this keyword is used to refer to the current object.

However, as the name variable is declared as private, we cannot access it from


outside this class:

Exercise #1
public class Main {

public static void main(String[] args) {

Person myObj = new Person();

myObj.name = "John"; // error

System.out.println(myObj.name); // error

If the variable was declared as public, we would expect the following output:

John

However, as we try to access a private variable, we get an error:

MyClass.java:4: error: name has private access in Person


    myObj.name = "John";
         ^
MyClass.java:5: error: name has private access in Person
    System.out.println(myObj.name);
                  ^
2 errors
Instead, we use the getName() and setName() methods to acccess and update the
variable:

Exercise #1
public class Main {

public static void main(String[] args) {

Person myObj = new Person();

myObj.setName("John"); // Set the value of the name variable to


"John"

System.out.println(myObj.getName());

// Outputs "John"

Why Encapsulation?
● Better control of class attributes and methods
● Class attributes can be made read-only (if you only use
the get method), or write-only (if you only use the set method)
● Flexible: the programmer can change one part of the code without
affecting other parts
● Increased security of data

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