Do Subclasses Inherit Private Fields in Java?

Subclasses: Inheriting Private Fields or Not?

In an interview conundrum, the question of whether subclasses inherit private fields sparks debate. Initially, one might assume a negative response due to the lack of direct access to these fields. However, the interviewer argues that subclasses do inherit them, citing indirect access and reflection methods.

Despite the interviewer's perspective, the Java Language Specification (JLS) clearly states that private members of a class are not inherited by its subclasses. This distinction is crucial when considering inheritance in the context of classes rather than objects. Objects of subclasses undoubtedly contain the private fields of their superclasses.

The interviewer's opinion may stem from the broader definition of inheritance. Objects of subclasses inherit all the data and methods of their parent classes, including private fields. However, from a class perspective, inheritance refers to the syntax and capabilities available to a child class. Private members are not accessible from outside their class or subclasses, and therefore, subclasses do not inherit them in this sense.

To conclude, while objects of subclasses inherit the data values of private fields from their parent classes, subclasses themselves do not inherit these fields from a syntactic or accessibility standpoint. This understanding unambiguously aligns with the official Java language definition.

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