What are the different access modifiers in object-oriented programming (OOP)?

Access modifiers are critical components in object-oriented programming (OOP) that control the visibility and accessibility of classes, their attributes, and methods. The answer that includes public, private, and protected correctly identifies the primary access modifiers used in many object-oriented programming languages.

Public access modifiers allow members (attributes or methods) to be accessible from any other class or context. This is useful for elements that need to be widely available throughout the application.

Private access modifiers restrict access to the class itself, meaning that attributes and methods marked as private can only be accessed within the same class. This encapsulation is essential for protecting data integrity and ensuring that the internal workings of a class aren't exposed unnecessarily to other parts of an application.

Protected access modifiers are a bit of a middle ground—these members are accessible within the same class and by derived (subclass) classes, facilitating inheritance while still providing some level of access control.

Understanding these access modifiers is fundamental for effective OOP design and helps developers maintain clean, maintainable code while protecting the integrity of the data encapsulated within classes.