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Java Java Data Structures - Retired Efficiency! Building the Model

Mike B
Mike B
10,424 Points
Posted by Mike B
Mike B
10,424 Points

How are private variables accessed from outside of the created class directly?

I thought the purpose of creating private variables was so that they couldn't be accessed directly. While we've been using the List interface, I've noticed a couple times that we are calling private variables from outside the class.

For example, in the SongBook.java class we are calling mSongs (private List<Song> mSongs;) but mSongs isn't in "SongBook.java"...it's in "Song.java"...shouldn't we be using the "getSongs()" method? Why does this work?

1 Answer

Benjamin Keller
Benjamin Keller
20,763 Points

That's not exactly what's happening. You're right, private variables can't be accessed outside the class. What's going on there is in SongBook.java we're creating a new list of objects that are the public Song class and calling it mSongs.

Mike B
Mike B
10,424 Points
Mike B
Mike B
10,424 Points

Oh...I've been associating the prefix 'm' with private variables. I wasn't paying attention that the variable itself wasn't private. Thank you