What is data hiding? - Definition from Whatis.com

Data hiding is a characteristic of object-oriented programming. Because an object can only be associated with data in predefined classes or templates, the object can only "know" about the data it needs to know about. There is no possibility that someone maintaining the code may inadvertently point to or otherwise access the wrong data unintentionally. Thus, all data not required by an object can be said to be "hidden."

Related glossary terms: data corruption
This was last updated in April 2005
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