private class MyClass?

[Fabio Leal]

Hy everybody...
I'm new here and that's my first topic here. =D
I'm starting my studies for SCJP6 this week, with Kathy Sierra & Bert Bathes Study guide.

The kind of Classes that Java support are only public and "default"?
Why can't we have a class just like "private class Myclass" to use in the same source file?

Thanks.

[Abhijeet Ravankar]

Hi,

A top level class can never be private. If we make it private, nothing could access it. So what is point of writing such a class itself? But, inner classes can be marked private. We can say that they are similar to private members of a class. Private inner class can be accessed only within the scope of top level class in which it is declared.

[B Bhalla]

Fabio Leal wrote:Hy everybody...
Why can't we have a class just like "private class Myclass" to use in the same source file?

Thanks.

There is no "Source File" level scoping.

[Fabio Leal]

Well...
My doubt is why is this construction valid:

// This file is named MyClass.java

public class MyClass {
	
}

class MyOtherClass {

}  

And this one Invalid:

// This file is named MyClass.java

public class MyClass {
	
}

private class MyOtherClass {

}  

[Himalay Majumdar]

What is the advantage of declaring a class Private?

[Fabio Leal]

Question solved:

"Although all four access controls (which means all three modifiers) work for most
method and variable declarations, a class can be declared with only public or
default access; the other two access control levels don't make sense for a class, as
you'll see."
(SCJP6 Study Guide - Kathy Sierra, Bert Bathes)

[Himalay Majumdar]

Right! It doesn't make any sense here.