What does @private
mean in Objective-C?
It's a visibility modifier—it means that instance variables declared as @private
can only be accessed by instances of the same class. Private members cannot be accessed by subclasses or other classes.
For example:
@interface MyClass : NSObject
{
@private
int someVar; // Can only be accessed by instances of MyClass
@public
int aPublicVar; // Can be accessed by any object
}
@end
Also, to clarify, methods are always public in Objective-C. There are ways of "hiding" method declarations, though—see this question for more information.