encapsulation
n.n. the act of hiding the inner details of how something works so you only see the simple outside part. In computer programming, it means keeping data safe inside a single unit or object.
n. the bundling of data with the methods that operate on that data, restricting direct access to some of an object's components. This principle serves to hide internal state and prevent unintended interference from outside code.
Encapsulation makes the code easier to manage.
By using encapsulation, the developer ensured that the internal variables of the user class could not be changed directly by other parts of the program.
Effective encapsulation allows a library to update its internal logic without breaking the external applications that rely on its public interface.
From en- + capsule + -ation or encapsulate + -ion.
Often used in the context of Object-Oriented Programming (OOP) alongside inheritance and polymorphism.