Which term describes the act of hiding the internal state of an object and requiring access through its methods?

Which term describes the act of hiding the internal state of an object and requiring access through its methods?

• A. Encapsulation
• B. Encryption
• C. Event Model
• D. Flowchart

Answer: (A)

Encapsulation is the practice of hiding an object's internal state and requiring access through its methods. By keeping data private and exposing only a defined interface, the object protects its integrity and ensures that its state can only be changed in controlled ways. This means external code interacts with the object through its public methods, which can enforce validation, invariants, and synchronization. It also allows the internal implementation to change without breaking code that relies on the interface. The other terms refer to different ideas: encryption is about turning data into unreadable form to protect confidentiality, the event model describes how components communicate via events, and a flowchart is a diagram of steps in a process.

Encapsulation is the practice of hiding an object's internal state and requiring access through its methods. By keeping data private and exposing only a defined interface, the object protects its integrity and ensures that its state can only be changed in controlled ways. This means external code interacts with the object through its public methods, which can enforce validation, invariants, and synchronization. It also allows the internal implementation to change without breaking code that relies on the interface. The other terms refer to different ideas: encryption is about turning data into unreadable form to protect confidentiality, the event model describes how components communicate via events, and a flowchart is a diagram of steps in a process.