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Java Java Objects (Retired) Meet Objects Privacy and Methods

Aditya Puri
Aditya Puri
1,080 Points
Posted by Aditya Puri
Aditya Puri
1,080 Points

Another approach

I understand that the goal of this video is to familiarize us with objects..

But can't we do the same thing by doing

public final String mCharacterName = "Yoda";

I just want to know if this is correct too or if this way has some limitations against using the other way in which we first declare a method..

1 Answer

Edwin Herrera
Edwin Herrera
13,106 Points

Hello, Aditya!

While this could work for some scenarios, it would limit you on cases like the one in the video where you want to be able to actually modify mCharacterName, just simply not allow any other object to do it. By declaring it as final you're essentially saying that the value will not change and remain the same throughout the life of the instance.

It's also good practice in general to not expose the components of a class directly but rather through a method since it gives you greater flexibility in case you wanted to change some behaviour in your class; like wanting the name to always be presented in uppercase in the future.