Encapsulation in Python: Object-Oriented Programming

By Jeff Nissen from Pexels

Introduction

Encapsulation is a core concept of OOP (Object Oriented Programming) that every developer should seek to understand. This article will explain what encapsulation is, what its benefits are, and how to write encapsulated code in Python!

What is Encapsulation?

Encapsulation means containing all important information inside an object, and only exposing selected information to the outside world. In terms of OOP, this means keeping all fields private, and providing public methods for accessing and setting this data if it is needed outside the class.

This is done to protect the data from accidental modification, and to provide a clear interface for interacting with the object.

Encapsulation in Python

Here’s an example of a class for a Car implemented using encapsulation in Python:

class Car:
    def __init__(self, make, model):
        self._make = make
        self._model = model

    def set_make(self, make):
        self._make = make

    def set_model(self, model):
        self._model = model

    def get_make(self):
        return self._make

    def get_model(self):
        return self._model