Encapsulation in Object-Oriented Programming

When working with data, encapsulation involves grouping data with the methods that manipulate it.

Hide an object’s internal state and information. Which helps reduce the risk of objects accessing each other’s internal data and increases coupling.

The “Tell, don’t ask” concept is central to information hiding. It can be challenging because it assumes an object should always know what to say or answer. Defining boundaries between objects and reducing the risk of exposing internal structures. Encapsulation is improved with objects responsible for their data and disclosing methods to access it.

Avoid asking objects for information; instead, command them to perform specific functions.

Encapsulation limits the use of `if statements` and encourages using commands over query methods. Processing happens in the right place, and responsibilities are distributed among different objects.

As a best practice, consider using private methods at the beginning of each class definition. This not only helps identify if the object is doing too much but also effectively hides data from consumers, thereby narrowing the public API of any object.

To better encapsulate an object, hide data access behind methods and limit external access to the object’s internal state.