Can a subclass access a superclass' private members?

Question

In Java, class A defines a member variable private int num; Class B is a subclass of class A.

1- If the two classes are in the same package - does B inherit num?

2- If the two classes are not in the same package - does B inherit num?

Have you tried? That would have probably taken less than writing the questions here. — Edwin Dalorzo, Apr 15 '14 at 15:33
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/215497/in-java-whats-the-difference-between-public-default-protected-and-private?rq=1 — xd6_, Apr 15 '14 at 15:33
http://docs.oracle.com/javase/tutorial/java/javaOO/accesscontrol.html — coreJavare, Apr 15 '14 at 15:34
`private modifier`—the field is accessible only within its own class. — Nambi, Apr 15 '14 at 15:34
Do not understand pseudo-code or any human language, only understand code. Please show code. — CodeCamper, Apr 15 '14 at 15:34
You know, in the time this question will be downvoted and closed, you could have found out for yourself by *writing some code* rather than asking people to tell you the answer. — Brian Roach, Apr 15 '14 at 15:35
@NambiNarayanan Is there a way to allow a field/method to be inherited by subclasses, but not accessible by any other class? I.e., only accessible by the subclasses? — Aviv Cohn, Apr 15 '14 at 15:41
@NambiNarayanan But that allows all classes in the package access, which pretty much brakes encapsulation. If this is the only option, it's a problem with Java isn't it? — Aviv Cohn, Apr 15 '14 at 15:45
@Prog I think the idea is that a package is something you create to bundle up closely related types that cooperate with each other. Another programmer using your package might extend (subclass) one of your types, but he wouldn't define a new type in your package. So in this scenario, it would be considered OK for members to be accessible to other classes, but only the closely related ones. See also [this tutorial](http://docs.oracle.com/javase/tutorial/java/package/packages.html). — ajb, Apr 15 '14 at 16:03

score 0 · Accepted Answer · edited Apr 15 '14 at 16:04

0

B does not inherit or have access to num in either of those cases.

edited Apr 15 '14 at 16:04

DreadPirateShawn

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answered Apr 15 '14 at 15:37

Matias Cicero

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score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Apr 15 '14 at 16:12

In any case a subclass can access to a method or variable if this is declared as private in a superclass.

The only way to allow access to your num field is providing public (or at least protected) accessors method:

public int getNum(){
    return this.num;
}

public void setNum(int num){
    return this.num = num;
}

Can a subclass access a superclass' private members?

2 Answers2