1. What is encapsulation?

encapsulation is one of the fundamental principles of object -oriented programming (poo) that allows hiding the implementation details of an object. This means that you can change the internal implementation of an object without affecting other parts of the system that interact with it. This feature promotes modularity and ease in maintaining code in the future.

2. Why use encapsulation?

Using encapsulation is considered a good practice for several reasons:

• easily surgical maintenance : Changes in the implementation of a class can be made without the need to modify the code that uses this class, since the public interface remains the same.
• Data protection : prevents direct access to the internal data of an object, thus protecting the integrity of the object of the object.
• Consistency and predictability : ensures that methods and attributes are used consistently, avoiding unwanted changes.

3. How do you encapsulate?

encapsulation is implemented by access modifiers , which restricts the visibility of a class attributes and methods. The main access modifiers are:

• private : Attributes and Methods are accessible only within the class itself.
• Protected : Attributes and Methods are accessible within the class itself and in subclasses.
• public : Attributes and Methods can be accessed from any part of the code.

4. How to make encapsulation?

To encapsulate attributes of a class, declare them as private . For example, in the person class, the name attribute is encapsulated as follows:

package exemplos.poo.ex;

public class Pessoa {
    private String nome;

    // Método para acessar o atributo nome
    public String getNome() {
        return nome;
    }

    // Método para modificar o atributo nome
    public void setNome(String nome) {
        this.nome = nome;
    }
}

Access to Private Attributes

Private attributes can be accessed through methods Getter and setter . These methods provide a way to access or manipulate attributes as they can have a modifier that restricts other class access to this attribute, as is the case with private , respecting encapsulation:

• Getter : Method that returns the value of an attribute.
• setter : Method that allows you to change the value of an attribute.

5. When to use encapsulation?

encapsulation should be applied whenever possible in poo, as it offers a number of benefits:

• Data protection : ensures that the internal data of an object is not accessed directly.
• Modifiability : facilitates code modification without affecting other parts of the system.
• code reuse : facilitates the creation of classes that can be reused in different contexts.
• Testability : Helps isolate parts of the code, making tests simpler and more effective.
• Security : Reduces the risk of unwanted manipulations to internal data.

Conclusion

Encapsulation is an essential practice in object -oriented programming that helps create more robust, safe and easy to maintain systems. By using access modifiers and Getters and Setters methods, you can control access to attributes and promote a safer and more predictable interaction between objects.