List all Access Modifiers (public, private, protected, internal/package-private).
Access Modifiers
Access modifiers control the visibility and accessibility of classes and their members. In Java, the primary access levels are public, protected, package-private, and private. C# provides public, private, protected, internal, protected internal, and private protected. As a senior engineer, I treat access modifiers as part of API and encapsulation design: the narrowest visibility that satisfies the requirement is generally preferable.
- 1
public: accessible wherever the language's visibility rules permit.
- 2
private: restricted to the declaring class/type.
- 3
protected: accessible to the declaring type and appropriate derived types.
- 4
Java package-private: accessible within the same package.
- 5
C# internal: accessible within the same assembly.
- 6
C# private protected: accessible to derived types within the same assembly.
- 7
Use the least visibility necessary to preserve encapsulation.
Follow-up Questions
- What is the difference between protected and package-private?
- What is internal in C#?
- Can a private member be accessed by a derived class?
- What is private protected in C#?