Protected member access from different packages in java - a curiosity

protected allows access from subclasses and from other classes in the same package. That's why any Derived class instance can access the protected method in Base.

The other line creates a Base instance (not a Derived instance!!). And access to protected methods of that instance is only allowed from objects of the same package.

---

display();

-> allowed, because the caller, an instance of Derived has access to protected members and fields of its subclasses, even if they're in different packages

new Derived().display();

-> allowed, because you call the method on an instance of Derived and that instance has access to the protected methods of its subclasses

new Base().display();

-> not allowed because the caller's (the this instance) class is not defined in the same package like the Base class, so this can't access the protected method. And it doesn't matter - as we see - that the current subclasses a class from that package. That backdoor is closed ;)

http://java.sun.com/docs/books/jls/third_edition/html/names.html#6.6

class C
    protected member;

// in a different package

class S extends C 

    obj.member; // only allowed if type of obj is S or subclass of S

The motivation is probably as following. If obj is an S, class S has sufficient knowlege of its internals, it has the right to manipulate its members, and it can do this safely.

If obj is not an S, it's probably another subclass S2 of C, which S has no idea of. S2 may have not even been born when S is written. For S to manipulate S2's protected internals is quite dangerous. If this is allowed, from S2's point of view, it doesn't know who will tamper with its protected internals and how, this makes S2 job very hard to reason about its own state.

Now if obj is D, and D extends S, is it dangerous for S to access obj.member? Not really. How S uses member is a shared knowlege of S and all its subclasses, including D. S as the superclass has the right to define behaviors, and D as the subclass has the obligation to accept and conform.

For easier understanding, the rule should really be simplified to require obj's (static) type to be exactly S. After all, it's very unusual and inappropriate for subclass D to appear in S. And even if it happens, that the static type of obj is D, our simplified rule can deal with it easily by upcasting: ((S)obj).member