Hi Jones,
Is this class accessible to classes in all packages just as long as the class is in the classpath?
Yes. The class may be used as any other class existing in java.lang package. However, Sun strongly recommends you to do not put your classes in default package.
What about protected members in this class (which are only accessible to subclasses and other classes in the same package)? Or would these members only be accessible to other classes in the "default package"?
The rule for accessing protected members of classes in default package is the same as if they are in some customized package. In this case, the protected member can be accessed for any class in default package and any class in other package through inheritance.
Please let me give you an additional information about classes in default package : For the exam, you must be aware about the difference when using the argumento -classpath to compile files which references classes in or out default package.
This is because if you opt to inform the -classpath argument during the compilation of a given source, informing the argument -cp . works a little bit different for classes which are in default package when comparing to those which are in a customized package.
For classes that are in the default package, you don't need to compile your source code from a parents directory where the .class file is, on the other hand, if such .class file is in a package and if you inform the argument -cp ., you have to compile from the parent directory of root directory of the package.
I think you get the point.
Please let me know if you need some more explanation about that.
Good luck in your study journey.
[ April 20, 2006: Message edited by: Edisandro Bessa ]
