Thread: Needs help with code

Accessor methods are your get() methods; they allow outside classes to access the private members of another class.

For example:

public class ClassA
{
 
   private int number;
 
   public ClassA(int theNumber)
   {
 
      number = theNumber;
 
   }
 
   //Now, we make a get() method for number, because it is private
   //and cannot be accessed by other classes
   public int getNumber()
   {
 
      return number;
 
   }
}

public class ClassATest
{
 
   public static void main(String[] heeheeNotCallingThisArgs)
   {
 
      ClassA test = new ClassA(5);
 
      int cake = test.number; //This would throw an exception, since number is private
      int otherCake = test.getNumber(); //This works, because getNumber() is public
 
   }
}

Now, your modifier methods are your set() methods. I really have no clue why you'd want them to be private; this would mean that there's no way to edit the values in your class. Usually set() methods are public. Here's what a typical set() method looks like (using that previous class):

public class ClassA
{
 
   private int number;
 
   public ClassA(int theNumber)
   {
 
      number = theNumber;
 
   }
 
   public int getNumber()
   {
 
      return number;
 
   }
 
   //Now we'll add the modifier (set) method, so that number's value can be changed
   public void setNumber(int newNumber)
   {
 
      number = newNumber;
 
   }
}

public class ClassATest
{
 
   public static void main(String[] heeheeNotCallingThisArgs)
   {
 
      ClassA test = new ClassA(5);
 
      test.number = 2; //This would throw an exception, since number is private
      test.setNumber(2); //This works, because setNumber() is public
 
   }
}

Does that clear things up at all?