What Is Accessible Member?

In computer programming, an Accessible Member refers to specific data or functionality that other program parts can access. Accessible members are usually associated with classes and fundamental concepts in object-oriented programming. Access specifiers control how accessible other parts of the program can access members. Access specifiers dictate which parts of a class can be accessed by other classes or code outside the class. The three most common access specifiers are "public", "private", and "protected". Accessible members control how classes inherit constraints and separate class interfaces from class implementations. This means that by using accessible members, we can control how much of a class's internal workings are exposed to other program parts. Some accessible members function as members-only access, meaning that the internal data structures are exclusive and cannot be accessed directly. Accessible members detach the internal data structure of a class from its interface, allowing us to change the internal workings of the class without affecting its external interface. However, accessible members can be inspected or modified by using public accessor methods. This is because client codes can access the public accessor methods, which in turn can access the private data structures of the class. Although access specifiers do not control visibility, reference to the accessible member name from the client code won’t be permitted. Different programming languages handle accessible members and access specifiers differently. For example, Ruby is a programming language that prevents access based on the instance itself rather than the class of the instance. This means that access to a particular member is determined by the example of the class rather than the class itself. In summary, accessible members are an essential concept in computer programming, particularly in object-oriented programming. Access specifiers control how accessible other parts of the program can access members, and they dictate which parts of a class can be accessed by other classes or code outside of the class. By controlling how much of a class's internal workings are exposed to other parts of the program, we can ensure that our code is secure and operates as expected.