What Does Information Hiding Mean?
Information hiding for programmers is executed to prevent system design change. If design decisions are hidden, certain program code cannot be modified or changed. Information hiding is usually done for internally changeable code, which is sometimes especially designed not to be exposed. Such stored and derived data is not expounded upon, most generally. Change resilience of classes and ease of use by client objects are two byproducts of hidden data.
Techopedia Explains Information Hiding
In 1972, David Parnas introduced the idea of information hiding. He believed that critical design systems should be hidden from clients and front end users. He defined information hiding as a way in which clients could be shielded from internal program workings.
For example, a calculation producing a given result may be hidden. It follows a model of functionality that can be described as a type of information hiding.
One advantage of information hiding is yielding flexibility, such as allowing a programmer to more readily modify a program. This also may be done by placing source code within modules for easy access in the future, as the program develops and evolves.
