Why can we reduce visibility of a property in extended class?

Question

I have two classes, Parent:

public class Parent {
    public String a = "asd";

    public void method() {

    }
}

And Child:

public class Child extends Parent{
    private String a = "12";

    private void method() {

    }
}

In Child, I try to override the parent method which gives a compile time error of cannot reduce visibility of a method which is fine.

But, why is this error not applicable to property a? I am also reducing visibility of a, but it doesn't give an error.

Answer 1

This is because Parent.a and Child.a are different things. Child#method() @Overrides Parent#method(), as they are methods. Inheritance does not apply to fields.

From the Oracle JavaTM Tutorials - Inheritance, it was written that:

What You Can Do in a Subclass

• The inherited fields can be used directly, just like any other fields.
• You can declare a field in the subclass with the same name as the one in the superclass, thus hiding it (not recommended).
• You can declare new fields in the subclass that are not in the superclass.