Ask HN: Why do you make class members private?

Re:Ask HN: Why do you make class members private? by oxff on Monday July 25, 2022 @01:29PM (#32227841)

"With a sufficient number of users of an API,

it does not matter what you promise in the contract:

all observable behaviors of your system

will be depended on by somebody."

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Re:Ask HN: Why do you make class members private? by ronsor on Monday July 25, 2022 @01:59PM (#32228378)

Corollary:

If your programming language supports reflection, people will depend on private properties and methods regardless of what you do.

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Re:Ask HN: Why do you make class members private? by LanceH on Monday July 25, 2022 @02:05PM (#32228442)

People who can't accomplish something with an API because things are kept private won't be users.

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Re:Ask HN: Why do you make class members private? by lamontcg on Tuesday July 26, 2022 @09:44PM (#32246102)

It is always better to get the authors of the API to provide a supported way of doing something, rather than trying to bypass the interface. That requires human skills rather than computer skills though.

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