[DrJava] [ drjava-Bugs-2833386 ] private variables accessible from interactions pane

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Bugs item #2833386, was opened at 2009-08-06 16:50
Message generated for change (Tracker Item Submitted) made by jeaniacgriffin
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Category: Interactions
Group: 4: Serious
Status: Open
Resolution: None
Priority: 5
Private: No
Submitted By: Jean Griffin (jeaniacgriffin)
Assigned to: Nobody/Anonymous (nobody)
Summary: private variables accessible from interactions pane

Initial Comment:
I am a big fan of DrJava. I am an  educator who has used DrJava for about 6 years to teach thousands of university students. However I was surprised and disappointed to find that in the Sep 2008 stable version, one was able to access an object's private variables from the interactions pane. For example:

> Thing thing = new Thing();
>  thing.x = 10;   // should fail but doesn't

The statement above succeeds even if x is private. This would (logically) fail in prior versions, such as the 2007 stable version. The fact that the statement above succeeds is a big problem for us because it doesn't demonstrate how the private keyword protects a variable. It puts a serious kink the educational value of the interactions pane. Now we have to say "well, we shouldn't be able to change x but the DrJava interactions pane has a bug." Perhaps this has been fixed in the new beta version? I haven't had time to check. I very much hope this problem can be fixed and incorporated in a new version before the fall semester starts! 

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You can respond by visiting: 
https://sourceforge.net/tracker/?func=detail&atid=438935&aid=2833386&group_id=44253