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C# Access Modifier

May Be Applied To

Meaning in Life

public

Types or type members

Public items have no access

restrictions. A public member can be

accessed from an object as well as

any derived class. A public type can

be accessed from other external

assemblies.

private

Type members or nested types

Private items can only be accessed

by the class (or structure) that

defines the item.

protected

Type members or nested types

Protected items are not directly

accessible from an object variable;

however, they are accessible by the

defining type as well as by derived

classes.

internal

Types or type members

Internal items are accessible only

within the current assembly.

Therefore, if you define a set of

internal types within a .NET class

library, other assemblies are not able

to make use of them.

protected internal

Type members or nested types

When the protected and internal

keywords are combined on an item,

the item is accessible within the

defining assembly, the defining

class, and by derived classes.

In this chapter, we are only concerned with the public and private keywords. Later chapters

will examine the role of the internal and protected internal modifiers (useful when you build

.NET code libraries) and the protected modifier (useful when you are creating class hierarchies).

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