Protected VS default restiction level

[Rui Leal]

Can somebody please explain me why is PROTECTED considered to be more restrictive than DEFAULT?
I think it should be the other way around. Let me explain:

DEFAULT:
member visible to other classes in the same package

PROTECTED:
member visible to other classes in the same package
+
member visible to subclasses outside the package (through inheritance)

That means that in the same conditions:
"Number of classes that can access PROTECTED member" > "Number of classes that can access DEFAULT member"
by this we can say that DEFAULT restricts the access to a smaller group of classes than PROTECTED does ---> DEFAULT is being more restrictive!


What am I missing to understand then?
Thanks

[W. Joe Smith]

I didn't think protected was considered more restrictive. I thought the order was (from least restrictive to most):

Public
Protected
Default
Private

[Diana Sule]

Hi Rui,

I agree that what you and Joe said is correct.

Protected is definitely less restrictive than default is.

[Rui Leal]

You're both right. Default is in fact more restrictive than protected.
I read somewhere that stated (erroneously) that protected was more restrictive than default... damn it!
Well, that makes both of you and my intuition right

Thanks

[Diana Sule]