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Access Specifiers

Public variables can be accessed from anywhere in a program using dot notation, while private variables prefixed with double underscores can only be accessed within the class. Private methods can also only be accessed within the class, though they can be accessed from outside using name mangling which prepends an underscore and the class name. Access specifiers determine where variables and methods can be accessed, with public by default, protected using single underscore, and private using double underscore.

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30 views

Access Specifiers

Public variables can be accessed from anywhere in a program using dot notation, while private variables prefixed with double underscores can only be accessed within the class. Private methods can also only be accessed within the class, though they can be accessed from outside using name mangling which prepends an underscore and the class name. Access specifiers determine where variables and methods can be accessed, with public by default, protected using single underscore, and private using double underscore.

Uploaded by

nithya Anand
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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ACCESS SPECIFIERS

ACCESS SPECIFIERS

● Public variables are those that are defined in the class and can be
accessed from anywhere in the program, using the dot operator.

● Here, anywhere from the program means that the public


variables can be accessed from within the class as well as from
outside the class in which it is defined.
ACCESS SPECIFIERS

• Private variables , on the other hand, are those variables


that are defined in the class with a double score prefix
(__).

• These variables can be accessed only from within the class


and from nowhere outside the class.
ACCESS SPECIFIERS

We can access the private variable from anywhere outside


the class.

object._classname__privatevariable

***Not Recommended
Private Methods
• Like private attributes, we can even have primate methods
in our class.
• Usually , we keep those methods as private which have
implementation details.
• So like private attributes, we should also not use a private
method from anywhere outside the class.
Private Methods

A private method can be accessed using the object


name as well as the class name from outside the
class.

object._classname__privatemethodname

***Not Recommended
ACCESS SPECIFIERS

Public access
By default, all members (instance variables and methods) are public:
class Person:
def __init__(self, name, age):
self.name = name # public
self.age = age # public
ACCESS SPECIFIERS

Protected access
To make an instance variable or method protected, the convention is to
prefix the name with a single underscore _, like:
class Person:
def __init__(self, name, age):
self._name = name # protected
self._age = age # protected
ACCESS SPECIFIERS

we can make an instance variable or method private by using the double


underscore __, like:

class Person:
def __init__(self, name, age):
self.__name = name # private
self.__age = age # private

The __name and __age instance variables cannot be accessed outside the
class, doing so will give an AttributeError:
p1 = Person("John", 20)
p1.__name # will give AttributeError
ACCESS SPECIFIERS

We can still access the private members outside the class.

Python performs name mangling, so every member prefixed with


__ is changed to _class__member.

So, accessing name will then be p1._Person__name. However,


this is highly unadvised.
Example
To demonstrate each access modifier, we create a Person class
with three members: name (public), _age (protected), and
__height (private).

Next, we make an instance of Person and try accessing its


members:
ACCESS SPECIFIERS

class Person:
def __init__(self, name, age, height):
self.name = name # public
self._age = age # protected
self.__height = height # private

p1 = Person("John", 20, 170)

print(p1.name) # public: can be accessed


print(p1._age) # protected: can be accessed but not advised
# print(p1.__height) # private: will give AttributeError

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