Help to understand the issue with protected method

Question

I\'m reading Sybex Complete Java 2 Certification Study Guide April 2005 (ISBN0782144195). This book is for java developers who wants to pass java certification.

Answer 1

That question seems badly worded - and asks about a very rare edge case (that I'm not even sure is covered on the SCJP test). The way that it's worded makes your answer correct and the given answer incorrect. Coding a similar construct and running it easily proves this...

package inside;

public class Base {

    private String name;

    public Base(String name)  {
        this.name = name;
    }

    public void setName(String name) {
        this.name = name;
    }

    public String getName() {
        return name;
    }

    protected String abby(String name) {
        String old = this.name;
        this.name = name;
        return old;
    }
}




package outside;
import inside.Base;

public class Another extends Base {

    public Another(String name) {
        super(name);
    }

    public String setAnother(Another another, String hack) {
        return another.abby(hack);
    }

    public static void doCrazyStuff() {
        Another one = new Another("one");
        Another two = new Another("two");

        one.abby("Hi one"); 
        two.abby("Hi two");
        one.setAnother(two, "Hi two from one");

        System.out.println("one = " + one.getName());
        System.out.println("two = " + two.getName());

    }

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        Another.doCrazyStuff();
    }
}