Pro C# 2010 and the .NET 4 Platform, Fifth Edition

5.6. C# Access Modifiers

When working with encapsulation, you must always take into account which aspects of a type are visible to various parts of your application. Specifically, types (classes, interfaces, structures, enumerations, and delegates) as well as their members (properties, methods, constructors, and fields) are defined using a specific keyword to control how "visible" the item is to other parts of your application. Although C# defines numerous keywords to control access, they differ on where they can be successfully applied (type or member). Table 5-1 documents the role of each access modifier and where it may be applied.

Table 5.1. C# Access Modifiers

C# Access Modifier	May Be Applied To	Meaning in Life
public	Types or type members ...