Hiding classes in a jar file

Question

Is it really impossible to hide some classes in a jar file?

I wanted not to allow direct instantiation of the classes to keep it more flexible. Only the factory (or

Answer 1

If I understand you correctly when you say "not to allow direct instantiation of the classes to keep it more flexible", a properly executed facade pattern will handle this.

Restrict the constructors of all the classes you want to hide to package scope. Open the facade class to public scope.

http://mindprod.com/jgloss/packagescope.html

"If you have a variable or method in your class that you don’t want clients of your class directly accessing, don’t give it a public, protected or private declaration. Due to an oversight in the design of Java, you can’t explicitly declare the default “package” accessibility. Other members of the package will be able to see it, but classes outside the package that inherit from yours, won’t. The protected accessibility attribute offers slightly more visibibily. A protected method is visible to inheriting classes, even not part of the same package. A package scope (default) method is not. That is the only difference between protected and package scope. "