Access Modifiers
Access Modifiers are keywords used to specify the declared accessibility of a member of a type.
Access Modifiers are keywords used to specify the declared accessibility of a member of a type.
Public is visible to everyone. A public member can be accessed using an instance of a class, by a class's internal code, and by any descendants of a class.
Private is hidden and usable only by the class itself. No code using a class instance can access a private member directly and neither can a descendant class.
Protected members are similar to private ones in that they are accessible only by the containing class. However, protected members also may be used by a descendant class. So members that are likely to be needed by a descendant class should be marked protected.
Internal/Friend is public to the entire application but private to any outside applications. Internal is useful when you want to allow a class to be used by other applications but reserve special functionality for the application that contains the class. Internal is used by C# and Friend by VB .NET.
Protected Internal may be accessed only by a descendant class that's contained in the same application as its base class. You use protected internal in situations where you want to deny access to parts of a class functionality to any descendant classes found in other applications.
Protected members are similar to private ones in that they are accessible only by the containing class. However, protected members also may be used by a descendant class. So members that are likely to be needed by a descendant class should be marked protected.
Internal/Friend is public to the entire application but private to any outside applications. Internal is useful when you want to allow a class to be used by other applications but reserve special functionality for the application that contains the class. Internal is used by C# and Friend by VB .NET.
Protected Internal may be accessed only by a descendant class that's contained in the same application as its base class. You use protected internal in situations where you want to deny access to parts of a class functionality to any descendant classes found in other applications.
