Question

let’s assume we have the following code:

 public class TestScope {
      private int a = 1;
         public static void main(String[] args) {
           TestScope ts = new TestScope();
           ts.a = 6;
           System.out.println(ts.a);
        }
    }

Why at line: ts.a = 6; I can get access to private variable a?
I thought that private memebers cannot be accessed outside. I don’t underestend this example.

Answer 1

It’s because a and main(String[]) are both part of the definition of the class TestScope

Private means that a variable or method can only be accessed inside the class definition. The fact that a is an instance variable doesn’t mean it can’t be accessed by a static public method in the same class.

If the public static void main(String[]) was inside a different class, then it would not be able to access ts‘s a, because a is hidden from other classes.