Style convention - private inner class

[Frank Bush]

Hello,

Let�s say that I have a class A with a private inner class B. Do style conventions apply to class B too? More precisely, wouldn�t it make sense to forget about the usual get / set methods?

My opinion is that encapsulation is not so important for a private inner class, and that readability is improved by giving direct access to data members. But I don�t want to make a statement, especially if it will cost me points

Any idea?

Here is a code snippet:

public class NickNamesDirectory {   
    // Contains NickName objects (see below) 
    private List nickNamesList = new ArrayList();    
    private class NickName {
        String nickName, firstName, lastName;
        NickName(String nick, String first, String last) {
            nickName = nick; firstName = first; lastName = last;
        }
    public void add(String nick, String first, String last) {
        nickNamesList.add(new NickName(nick,first,last));
    }
    // Methods to retrieve nick names, first names, and so on...
}

Thanks,
Frank