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In this Java example, the Printer class has a print method. This print method, rather than performing the print itself, forwards to an object of class RealPrinter. To the outside world it appears that the Printer object is doing the print, but the RealPrinter object is the one actually doing the work.
The class will be accessible to other classes in the same package but will be inaccessible to classes outside the package. When we say that a class is inaccessible, it simply means that we cannot create an object of that class or declare a variable of that class type. The protected access specifier too cannot be applied to a class.
The features of encapsulation are supported using classes in most object-oriented languages, although other alternatives also exist. Encapsulation may also refer to containing a repetitive or complex process in a single unit to be invoked. Object-oriented programming facilitate this at both the method and class levels.
In object-oriented programming, information hiding (by way of nesting of types) reduces software development risk by shifting the code's dependency on an uncertain implementation (design decision) onto a well-defined interface. Clients of the interface perform operations purely through the interface, so, if the implementation changes, the ...
Some programming languages possess this capability. Introspection should not be confused with reflection, which goes a step further and is the ability for a program to manipulate the metadata, properties, and functions of an object at runtime. Some programming languages also possess that capability (e.g., Java, Python, Julia, and Go).
For example, in Python, any class can implement an __iter__ method and be used as a collection. [3] Type classes in languages like Haskell, or module signatures in ML and OCaml, are used for many of the things that protocols are used for. [clarification needed] In Rust, interfaces are called traits. [4]
The class defines the data format or type (including member variables and their types) and available procedures (class methods or member functions) for a given type or class of object. Objects are created by calling a special type of method in the class known as a constructor. Classes may inherit from other classes, so they are arranged in a ...
In Ruby, all classes are open. In Python, classes can be created at runtime, and all can be modified afterward. [43] Objective-C categories permit the programmer to add methods to an existing class without the need to recompile that class or even have access to its source code.