Encapsulation is defined as the process of hiding one or more attributes within a package. It is a fundamental principle of object-oriented programming languages. By regulating the access permissions of an object’s elements, it allows for more consistent and secure program writing.
Using getter and setter methods instead of exposing the fields of a class has multiple advantages.
- We can add additional functionality, such as validation, with getter and setter methods. For example, let’s say we have a car class with several properties: color, year, engine size, etc. If we don’t use getter and setter methods, it would be possible to set a negative value for the engine size, which is undesirable. With getter and setter methods, we can control the range of values that a variable can take.
- It isolates your public interface from changes. By using getter and setter methods, you can change the internal implementation of a class without affecting the external code that interacts with the class. This provides better encapsulation and flexibility in managing the class’s properties.
Overall, getter and setter methods provide better control, encapsulation, and maintainability in object-oriented programming by allowing us to define access permissions and add additional functionality as needed.
Getters and setters can allow different access levels. For example, the get method can be public, while the set method can be private.
