What is the difference between public, private, and protected in Java?

What is the difference between public, private, and protected in Java?

In Java, access modifiers control the visibility of classes, methods, and variables. Public means accessible from anywhere, private means accessible only within the same class, and protected means accessible within the same package and subclasses.

Can you give me an example of each access modifier?

Sure! For public, you might have a method like public void display() {}. For private, it could be private int count;. And for protected, you might see protected void update() {}.

Why would I use protected instead of private?

You would use protected when you want to allow subclasses to access certain methods or variables, while still restricting access from other classes.

Are there any other access modifiers in Java?

Yes, there's also the default access modifier, which is package-private. If you don't specify any modifier, the member is accessible only within its own package.