Below is a summary of the principle characteristic of the access and non-access modifiers used in class declarations.

---

public

---

• All classes regardless of package can access the member.

---

private:

---

• Can only be accessed from within own class.
• A private member is invisible to any code outside its own class.
• A subclass cannot inherit a private member.
• You can declare a member of the same name in a subclass but it is not overridden.
• You can only override methods that can be inherited.

---

package default:

---

• Can be accessed by classes of the same package.
• Becomes private to classes in other packages.

---

protected:

---

• Accessed by same package and by subclasses in other packages.
• Respects the inheritance concept.
• The inherited protected member becomes private to all other classes in the subclasses package.