Encapsulation (computer programming): Difference between revisions

Revision as of 08:41, 6 October 2017

Revision as of 15:52, 5 January 2018

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== An information-hiding mechanism ==

{{See also|Information hiding}}

{{em| Encapsulation can be used to hide data members and members function.}} Under this definition, encapsulation means that the internal representation of an [[object (computer science)|object]] is generally hidden from view outside of the object's definition. Typically, only the object's own methods can directly inspect or manipulate its fields. Some languages like [[Smalltalk]] and [[Ruby (programming language)|Ruby]] only allow access via object methods, but most others (e.g. [[C++]], [[C Sharp (programming language)|C#]], [[Delphi (programming language)|Delphi]] or [[Java (programming language)|Java]]) offer the programmer a degree of control over what is hidden, typically via keywords like <code>public</code> and <code>private</code>.<ref name=Pierce/> It should be noted that the ISO C++ standard refers to <code>protected</code>, <code>private</code> and <code>public</code> as "[[access specifiers]]" and that they do not "hide any information". Information hiding is accomplished by furnishing a compiled version of the source code that is interfaced via a header file.

Hiding the internals of the object protects its integrity by preventing users from setting the internal data of the component into an invalid or inconsistent state. A supposed benefit of encapsulation is that it can reduce system complexity, and thus increase [[robustness (computer science)|robustness]], by allowing the developer to limit the inter-dependencies between software components{{Citation needed|date=April 2014}}.

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== Encapsulation and Inheritance ==