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Consider this code from the official OpenJDK source of java.awt.font.TextLayout:
public final class TextLayout {
/* ... */
protected void handleJustify(float justificationWidth) {
// never called
}
}
What's the use case here and why might it make sense to write code like that in general?
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Definition and Usage The protected keyword is an access modifier used for attributes, methods and constructors, making them accessible in the same package and subclasses.
Protecting a constructor prevents the users from creating the instance of the class, outside the package. During overriding, when a variable or method is protected, it can be overridden to other subclass using either a public or protected modifier only. Outer class and interface cannot be protected.
The protected modifier specifies that the member can only be accessed within its own package (as with package-private) and, in addition, by a subclass of its class in another package.
1) Private methods are final. 2) Protected members are accessible within a package and inherited classes outside the package. 3) Protected methods are final.
protected members can still be accessed by code from the same package. My guess is that the class used to be non-final in some earlier (perhaps not even public) version, was then made final, and the protected method kept as such because there might be code in the same package that uses it (and not changed to package private simply because nobody saw a benefit from doing so).
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