Isn\'t scope just a way to organize classes, preventing outside code from access

Question

Isn't scope just a way to organize classes, preventing outside code from accessing certain things you don't want accessed?

More specifically, is there any functional gain to having public, protected, or private-scoped methods? Is there any advantage to classifying method/property scope rather than to, say, just public-ize everything?

My presumption says no simply because, in binary code, there is no sense of scope (other than r/w/e, which isn't really scope at all, but rather global permissions for a block of memory). Is this correct?

What about in languages like Java and C#[.NET]?

Explanation / Answer

As you point out, the main reason is for organisation.

I see it as a communication channel between coders and maintainers, in order to make the intent of the design clear and to keep the code clean as long as possible.

Of course, this is true not only for OOP but also for any modular design.

Related Questions

Navigate

• Browse (All)
• Browse I
• Subjects

Integrity-first tutoring: explanations and feedback only — we do not complete graded work. Learn more.