Mellon
Mellon

Reputation: 38832

Access private field of a instance object

I have a class, which has one field named orbits (it has the same type as my class Body and has the private modifier):

public class Body {

     // I defined it as private field
     private Body orbits = null;

     public Body getOrbits(){
         return orbits;
     }

     public void setOrbits(Body orbits){
    this.orbits = orbits;
     }

     public void capture(Body victim){
        //Why 'victim' can access 'orbits' ?
        victim.orbits = this;
     }
}

In the class, I defined a method named capture(Body victim), which has one parameter with type Body. I am wondering in the method why I can directly access the private field orbits of instance victim ? I mean the field is private , isn't it non-accessible through the instance victim?

Upvotes: 4

Views: 1657

Answers (5)

Michael
Michael

Reputation: 35

victim is an instance of class Body and has all Attributes of that class. Every instance will have a private property orbits.

If you need a class-Attribute use "private static"

Upvotes: 0

Eng.Fouad
Eng.Fouad

Reputation: 117579

According to section 6.6.1 of the Java Language Specification:

Otherwise, if the member or constructor is declared private, then access is permitted if and only if it occurs within the body of the top level class (§7.6) that encloses the declaration of the member or constructor.

Upvotes: 1

Rahul Bobhate
Rahul Bobhate

Reputation: 5082

Since victim is also of type Body, the any instance of Body can access the private members of the victim instance.

Upvotes: 0

zw324
zw324

Reputation: 27180

Because victim is an instance of Body, it can access any field of a Body isntance.

Upvotes: 1

Andy Thomas
Andy Thomas

Reputation: 86381

Privacy is not per instance - it's per class.

The class can access the private fields of all instances.

For example, the method equals( Object o ) can cast o (if appropriate) to the same type, and compare its private members with the object on which equals() was called.

Upvotes: 6

Related Questions