As a Java geek, I am well versed in its four levels of visibility to class members (be they fields, methods, constructors or classes). However, sometimes I find myself wanting just a little more. The most restrictive level is private which hides visibility to the item from all other classes. Here is an example of the use of private:
public class Foo
{
    private int count;

    public int getCount() { return count; }
    public void inc() { count++; }
}
So no other class can access count directly. They have to do it through getCount() and inc() which limits the possible values of count (i.e. it will only increase) which, of course, is the whole point of using levels of visibility. (In this example.... In the general case, I would say the point of using these visibility modifiers is to better express the design of the software in the code.) So private is the most restrictive level you could ever need, right? Wrong! Consider this example:
public class Link
{
    private Link next;

    private void setNext(Link n) {
        // This is good ... we can set our own next field.
        //
        next = n;
        //
        // note: we could have written "this.next = n"
        //       keep that in mind...
    }

    private void addBug(Link n) {
        // The compiler allows this, but does it make
        // any sense?  We are changing the next field
        // of another object!
        //
        n.next = null;
    }

}
In some cases the idiom used in addBug() makes a lot of sense. But in some cases I have found myself wanting to disallow it. Which is why one might want paranoid. The idea of paranoid visibility is that there is a distinction between Java's this (used explicitly or implicitly) and other objects of the same class. So consider this final example:
class Foo
{
    paranoid String _name;

    public Foo(String name) {
        _name = name;
    }

    public void doStuff(Foo foo) {
        // we can change the name of this object
        this._name = "whatever";

        // compiler error!  can't change the name of foo!
        foo._name = "dude!";
    }

}
So there it is: public, protected, package, private and paranoid! The mystical fifth level of visiblity in Java. One could hack up a compiler to implement this, if one were so inclined, but then you would not be coding pure Java.



Note to -brazil-: Thank's for reminding me about private protected! I just did a writeup there. However I'm pretty sure that private protected had a different meaning than the theoretical paranoid which I am describing here.
Actually, Java at one time did have a fifth level of visibility called private protected.

It was different, but it wasn't a good idea, for the same reason that I think edger's paranoid isn't a good idea:

It's unnecessary. You are writing that class, so if you don't want that method or class member to be used by other instances of the class, then don't! Not doing something stupid is what programming is all about. Defensive programming is a good thing, but using another instance's methods or members is a conscious decision you make, not a thinko (if it isn't, switch your brain on while coding).

Java's visibility levels are not really a security feature, they're mainly there to tell other programmers which parts of a class are for external usage, and which parts aren't (and therefore shouldn't be touched unless you know what you're doing). If someone else works intensively on the same parts of source as you, you're having an organizational problem, I'd say, but if it's really necessary, you can still leave a comment to tell them what not do do.

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