Understanding Access Modifiers in Python: Public, Private, and Protected Explained

Mastering Data Encapsulation for Secure and Maintainable Code

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In object-oriented programming, access modifiers play a crucial role in controlling the visibility of attributes and methods within classes. Python, being a versatile language, offers different access modifiers to enforce encapsulation and ensure secure and maintainable code.

In this article, we’ll delve into the world of access modifiers in Python, exploring the concepts of public, private, and protected members with practical examples.

Introduction to Access Modifiers

Access modifiers define the accessibility of class members (attributes and methods) from outside the class. They help enforce data encapsulation, a key principle in object-oriented design, by restricting direct access to certain parts of a class.

Python does not have explicit keywords like public, private, or protected as in some other languages. Instead, it uses naming conventions and a single underscore (_) or double underscore (__) prefix to denote the visibility of members.

Public Members