private[this] vs private

Question

In Scala I see such feature as object-private variable. From my not very rich Java background I learnt to close everything (make it private) and open (provide accessors) if

Answer 1

In most OOP programming language like java, private fields/methods mean that these private fields/methods are not accessible outside from the class. However, instances/objects of same class can have access to the private fields of objects using assignment operator or by means of copy constructor. In Scala,private[this] is object private,which makes sure that any other object of same class is unable to access private[this] members.

Example

1.Without private[this]

object ObjectPrivateDemo {

  def main(args: Array[String]) {
    var real = new User("realUserName", "realPassword")
    var guest = new User("dummyUserName", "dummyPassword")
    real.displayUser(guest)

  }
}

class User(val username:String,val password:String) {
  private var _username=username
  private var _password=password



  def displayUser(guest:User){

         println(" guest username="+guest._username+" guest password="+guest._password)
       guest._username= this._username
    guest._password=  this._password
       println(" guest username="+guest._username+" guest password="+guest._password)


  }
}

2.Using private[this]

class User(val username: String, val password: String) {
  private var _username = username
  private[this] var _password = password



  def displayUser(guest: User) {

    println(this._username)
    println(this._password)

    guest._username = this._username
    // for guest._password it will give this :error  value _password is not member of class User
    guest._password = this._password

  }
}

Hence private[this] makes sure that _password field is only accessible with this.