Question

A question about inheritance in java…

class Base {
    private int val = 10;
}

class Derive extends Base{
    public void setVal(int value) {
        super.val = value;
    }
}

Since we can change the private field in super class using super keyword in the subclass, why should we use protected to declare fields in super class?

Answer 1

You can’t do that. The code you’ve given doesn’t compile, unless Derive is declared as a nested class within Base (which is a pretty rare case).

You should be getting an error like this:

error: val has private access in Base