What defines a class's access modifiers?

Access modifiers in a class are essential constructs that determine the visibility and accessibility of the class members (attributes and methods) to other parts of the program. When a class is defined, access modifiers specify whether its members are accessible from outside the class, from subclasses, or only from within the class itself. Common access modifiers include public, private, and protected.

• Public members can be accessed by any other code that has visibility to the class instance, while
• Private members are restricted to the class itself, enhancing encapsulation by preventing external code from interfering with the internal data.
• Protected members can be accessed in the class itself and by subclasses.

Understanding access modifiers is crucial for implementing proper encapsulation in object-oriented programming, which helps in maintaining code integrity and security. Thus, the correct choice highlights the role of access modifiers in determining how class members can be accessed or modified by other parts of the code.