Which of the following statement describes about protected access specifier for fields or methods

When we do not mention any access modifier, it is called default access modifier. The scope of this modifier is limited to the package only. This means that if we have a class with the default access modifier in a package, only those classes that are in this package can access this class. No other class outside this package can access this class. Similarly, if we have a default method or data member in a class, it would not be visible in the class of another package. Lets see an example to understand this:

Default Access Modifier Example in Java

To understand this example, you must have the knowledge of packages in java.

In this example we have two classes, Test class is trying to access the default method of Addition class, since class Test belongs to a different package, this program would throw compilation error, because the scope of default modifier is limited to the same package in which it is declared.
Addition.java

package abcpackage;

public class Addition {
   /* Since we didn't mention any access modifier here, it would
    * be considered as default.
    */
   int addTwoNumbers(int a, int b){
	return a+b;
   }
}

Test.java

package xyzpackage;

/* We are importing the abcpackage
 * but still we will get error because the
 * class we are trying to use has default access
 * modifier.
 */
import abcpackage.*;
public class Test {
   public static void main(String args[]){
	Addition obj = new Addition();
        /* It will throw error because we are trying to access
         * the default method in another package
         */
	obj.addTwoNumbers(10, 21);
   }
}

Output:

Exception in thread "main" java.lang.Error: Unresolved compilation problem: 
The method addTwoNumbers(int, int) from the type Addition is not visible
at xyzpackage.Test.main(Test.java:12)

2. Private access modifier

The scope of private modifier is limited to the class only.

1. Private Data members and methods are only accessible within the class
2. Class and Interface cannot be declared as private
3. If a class has private constructor then you cannot create the object of that class from outside of the class.

Let’s see an example to understand this:

Private access modifier example in java

This example throws compilation error because we are trying to access the private data member and method of class ABC in the class Example. The private data member and method are only accessible within the class.

class ABC{  
   private double num = 100;
   private int square(int a){
	return a*a;
   }
}  
public class Example{
   public static void main(String args[]){  
	ABC obj = new ABC();  
	System.out.println(obj.num); 
	System.out.println(obj.square(10));
   }  
}

Output:

Compile - time error

3. Protected Access Modifier

Protected data member and method are only accessible by the classes of the same package and the subclasses present in any package. You can also say that the protected access modifier is similar to default access modifier with one exception that it has visibility in sub classes.
Classes cannot be declared protected. This access modifier is generally used in a parent child relationship.

Protected access modifier example in Java

In this example the class Test which is present in another package is able to call the

package xyzpackage;

/* We are importing the abcpackage
 * but still we will get error because the
 * class we are trying to use has default access
 * modifier.
 */
import abcpackage.*;
public class Test {
   public static void main(String args[]){
	Addition obj = new Addition();
        /* It will throw error because we are trying to access
         * the default method in another package
         */
	obj.addTwoNumbers(10, 21);
   }
}

package abcpackage;
public class Addition {

   protected int addTwoNumbers(int a, int b){
	return a+b;
   }
}

Test.java

package xyzpackage;
import abcpackage.*;
class Test extends Addition{
   public static void main(String args[]){
	Test obj = new Test();
	System.out.println(obj.addTwoNumbers(11, 22));
   }
}

Output:

33

4. Public access modifier

The members, methods and classes that are declared public can be accessed from anywhere. This modifier doesn’t put any restriction on the access.

Which of the following describes the protected access specifier?

(a) The variable is visible only outside inside the block

(b) The variable is visible everywhere

(c) The variable is visible to its block and to it’s derived class

(d) The variable is not visible to its block

What is an protected access specifier?

Which among the following best describes the protected specifier?

Which statement is not true about protected access specifier?

Which of the following statement about access modifiers in Java is true?