oop - Why friend directive is missing in Java?

Question

I was wondering why Java has been designed without the frienddirective that is available in C++ to allow finer control over which methods and instance variables are available from outside the package in which a class has been defined.

I don't see any practical reason nor any specific drawback, it seems just a design issue but something that wouldn't create any problem if added to the language.

Answer 1

Here are a few reasons off the top of my head:

• friend is not required. It is convenient, but not required
• friend supports bad design. If one class requires friend access to another, you're doing it wrong. (see above, convenient, not required).
• friend breaks encapsulation. Basically, all my privates are belong to me, and that guy over there (my friend).