Encapsulation and Data Hiding
One of the primary advantages of using objects is that the object need not reveal all its attributes and behaviors. In good OO design (at least what is generally accepted as good), an object should reveal only the interfaces that other objects must have to interact with it. Details not pertinent to the use of the object should be hidden from all other objects.
Encapsulation is defined by the fact that objects contain both the attributes and behaviors. Data hiding is a major part of encapsulation.
For example, an object that calculates the square of a number must provide an interface to obtain the result. However, the internal attributes and algorithms used to calculate the square need not be made available to the ...
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