Accessible Member

Last Updated: October 28, 2012

Definition - What does Accessible Member mean?

An accessible member works alongside access specifiers which permit access to particular data based on the language it specifies. A normal set of access specifiers for class members or accessible members include:

Private - Restricts access to the class itself.
Protected - Allows the class and each subclass access to the member.
Public - Any code is able to access the member using the member name.

Accessible members control how classes inherit constraints and they separate class interfaces from class implementations. Some accessible members function as members-only access. That is, the internal data structures are exclusive.

Techopedia explains Accessible Member

Accessible members detach the internal data structure of a class from its interface. However, this private data can be inspected or modified by using public accessor methods since client codes can do whatever they want depending on the computer programming language and its features. Although visibility is not controlled by access specifiers, reference to the accessible member name from the client code won't be permitted. Languages such as Ruby differ in that they prevent access based on the instance itself rather than the class of the instance.