Top Level Class

[Steven Wong]

Hi, can someone please explain to me why is it that the Base class (as below) cannot be defined as private? I thought only one outer class needs to be defined as public and the Vis class has been defined so.
private class Base
{
}
public class Vis
{
transient int iVal;
public static void main(String elephant[]){
}
}
Compile time error: Base cannot be private. A top level class such as base cannot be declared to be private.

[Valentin Crettaz]

I thought only one outer class needs to be defined as public and the Vis class has been defined so.
that's right but no outer class can be declared private or protected
From JLS 8.1.1 Class Modifiers

Not all modifiers are applicable to all kinds of class declarations. The access modifier public pertains only to top level classes (�7.6) and to member classes (�8.5, �9.5), and is discussed in �6.6, �8.5 and �9.5. The access modifiers protected and private pertain only to member classes within a directly enclosing class declaration (�8.5) and are discussed in �8.5.1. The access modifier static pertains only to member classes (�8.5, �9.5). A compile-time error occurs if the same modifier appears more than once in a class declaration.

[ March 21, 2002: Message edited by: Valentin Crettaz ]

[Steven Wong]

Thanks a lot, Valentin.