Abstraction & Encapsulation

1. Encapsulation

Encapsulation is the process of wrapping data and the methods that work on data within a single unit. It acts as a protective shield that prevents the data from being accessed by the code outside this shield.

In Python, we achieve encapsulation by using private members (indicated by a double underscore __).

class BankAccount:
    def __init__(self, balance):
        self.__balance = balance # Private variable

    def deposit(self, amount):
        if amount > 0:
            self.__balance += amount

    def get_balance(self):
        return self.__balance

2. Abstraction

Abstraction is used to hide the internal details and show only the functionalities.

In Python, we can achieve abstraction by using Abstract Classes and methods. We use the abc module for this.

from abc import ABC, abstractmethod

class Shape(ABC):
    @abstractmethod
    def area(self):
        pass

class Square(Shape):
    def __init__(self, side):
        self.side = side
    def area(self):
        return self.side * self.side

The Difference

• Encapsulation: "I will hide my data so you can't touch it directly." (Focus on Security)
• Abstraction: "I will hide the complex details so you only see the simple interface." (Focus on Design)