Access modifiers in Python

In Python, we don't have access modifiers in the same way as we do in Java and C++. There is a partial workaround however, which  can be used to indicate which variables are public, protected, and private. The word indicate is important here; Python doesn't prevent the usage of protected or private members, it just indicates which members are which. Let's take a look at an example. Create  a class called AccessSpecifiers.py:

The preceding example shows us how access specifiers can be used in Python. Any variable that would be simply declared within a class is public by default, as we declared self.public. Protected variables in Python are declared by prefixing them with an underscore (_)  as seen in line 5, self._protected. But it must be noted that this does not prevent anyone from using them, as can be seen at line 23, in which we are using a protected member outside of the class. Private members in Python are declared by prefixing them with double underscore (__), as can be seen at line 6, self.__private. Again, however, there is nothing to prevent this member from being used outside the class. The way to access them is a little different, however; for private members, a specific convention is followed if they are to be accessed outside the class: instance._<className><memberName>. This is called name mangling.