Access method

[Jack Lau]

Hello,
My problem is that B has extend A and the doStuff() method in A is protected access, then why B cannot acccess doStuff() ?

 
// A.java
packge a;
public class A {
  protected void doStuff() {}
}
// B.java
package b;
import a.A;
public class B extends A {
  public static void main(String[] args) {
    A a = new A();
    a.doStuff();
  }
}

Thanks in advance!
Jack
[ June 04, 2003: Message edited by: Jack Lau ]

[Robbie kyodo]

it seems that there is a mistake
should be
package A;

[Jack Lau]

Oh, I know that why class B cannot access the doStuff() method of class A because protected member can be only seen by subclass through inheritance, but cannot using dot to reference it.
Jack

[Brian Joseph]

Hi Jack,
You're right. But also this question is testing whether you know that protected is very similiar to default (package) access.
If A and B were in the same package, you COULD call A's method like that.
We were just talking about this yesterday and Anupam posted a great link explaining this:
Link To Protected Access Discussion (See Kathy's reply)
[ June 04, 2003: Message edited by: Brian Joseph ]