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Data encapsulation, also known as data hiding, is the mechanism whereby the implementation details of a class are kept hidden from the user. The user can only perform a restricted set of operations on the hidden members of the class by executing special functions commonly called methods to prevent attributes of objects from being easily viewed and accessed.
Essentially, encapsulation prevents external code from being concerned with the internal workings of an object. Encapsulation allows developers to present a consistent interface that is independent of its internal implementation. As one example, encapsulation can be used to hide the values or state of a structured data object inside a class.
Encapsulation also protects the integrity of the component, by preventing users from setting the internal data of the component into an invalid or inconsistent state. Another benefit of encapsulation is that it reduces system complexity and thus increases robustness, by limiting the interdependencies between software components.
Encapsulation is a means of information hiding. [2] Layered designs in information systems are another embodiment of separation of concerns (e.g., presentation layer, business logic layer, data access layer, persistence layer). [3] Separation of concerns results in more degrees of freedom for some aspect of the program's design, deployment, or ...
Encapsulation (networking), the process of adding control information as it passes through the layered model Encapsulation (computer programming) , the combination of program code and data, and/or restriction (hide) of access to data except through dedicated code
The success of data abstraction leads to frequent incorporation of data hiding as a design principle in object-oriented and pure functional programming. Similarly, encapsulation prevents external code from being concerned with the internal workings of an object.
The term encapsulation refers to the hiding of state details, but extending the concept of data type from earlier programming languages to associate behavior most strongly with the data, and standardizing the way that different data types interact, is the beginning of abstraction.
Encapsulation may be weakened in several ways, including: By declaring internal members public, or by providing free access to data via public mutator methods (setter). By providing non-public access. For example, see: Java access modifiers and accessibility levels in C# [1] In C++, via some of the above means, and by declaring friend classes ...