Individuals from diverse backgrounds enter the field of data science. For example, some may hold PhDs in computational biology, others may be nuclear physicists, and some may be linguists. Everyone has a different level of exposure to key software engineering concepts. It may result in flaky, un-extensible, unmaintainable, and unreadable code developed by data scientists. That's where encapsulation (a core concept in software engineering) comes in.

Encapsulation helps you hide complex details, which can be very helpful in improving the readability and maintainability of the code. It also improves the security and privacy of the methods used. If you are planning to join the field of data science and want to learn more about encapsulation, continue reading.

What Is Encapsulation?

Object-oriented programming (OOP) is commonly used to develop complex software systems. Encapsulation is basically a key concept in OOP. It involves building data or attributes. Encapsulation also involves methods or functions that operate on data to create a single unit, usually a class. It hides complex details that are irrelevant to someone who will use or read the code.

Encapsulation is also referred to as data or information hiding within a program. It protects your data from accidental modifications. Encapsulation also prevents unwanted interference and misuse of the data. Think of it as a steering wheel; you know how to use it, but you have no idea why or how it works, and you don't need to. In brief, encapsulation is crucial for developing scalable and robust software systems.

Benefits Of Encapsulation Programming

The following are the benefits of encapsulation programming.

• Better Readability of Your Code: Encapsulation simplifies complex operations, thereby improving the readability of the code. It depends on the reader if they want to pursue the details given in the code. They are free to pursue each of these functions. If they don't need the details, they can proceed quickly to the next relevant section.
• Improved Flexibility: Encapsulation enables you to set variables as read-only or write-only. For example, to set variables as write-only, you can write getName () or getAge(). If you want to set variables as read-only, you can write setName(), setAge(), and so on.
• Hiding Data: The users of the code will have no idea how the classes are being stored or implemented. All they will know is that values are being initialized and passed. It prevents other developers from writing APIs or scripts that use your code.
• Improves Code Maintainability: Encapsulation makes data easier to maintain. It is because changes to the internal implementation of a class do not affect other parts of the program.
• Improved Data Protection: Encapsulation enables you to make your data private, thereby preventing unauthorized changes to the code outside the class.
• Increased Security: You can restrict access to the sensitive codes with encapsulation, which helps protect sensitive information.

How Is Information Hidden through Encapsulation Programming?

In Java and other programming languages, hiding information is controlled using setter/getter methods for data attributes or methods. They will be readable or updated by other classes. A getter method is used to get the value of a specific variable within a class. In contrast, a setter method is used to update or set the value of a specific variable within a class. Programmers can use an access modifier to choose the accessibility and visibility of a class. There are four types of access modifiers available in the Java programming language.

• The Default/No Modifier: A variable within "no access modifier" can be viewed or accessed from within the same class or other classes in the same package. If you omit the access modifier, Java programming will apply the default access modifier.
• Public Access Modifier: It is the least restrictive of all. All matters and attributes within the public access modifier can be accessed and viewed by code within the same class and all other classes.
• Private Access Modifier: In this type of access modifier, the methods or attributes in a code can only be accessed within the same class.
• Protected Access Modifier: A method or variable that is protected can be accessed by code within the same class and all the classes in the same package. It can also be accessed by all the sub-classes in the same or other packages.

Why Data Scientists Should Learn Encapsulation?

The concept of encapsulation has evolved over the years through trial and error in the software engineering world. Its ultimate goal is to make the code easier to maintain and read. Any code that is poorly written can quickly be filled with a storm of bugs. Not only that, but it will also require a lot of man-hours for maintenance. It may waste your time fixing bugs when you should be building and developing exciting new models.

The scope of data science has expanded, and it is not just about research and building models in Jupyter notebooks. The field of data science has matured. The data science teams are realizing that they need to write code ready for production, not only that, but they also have to maintain it. With encapsulation programming, data scientists will not have to rely on notebooks and unorganized code to maintain entire production pipelines.

Conclusion

Encapsulation is a key concept of object-oriented programming (OOP). It may help you remove complex details and hide the information that is not important to the reader. The information is hidden using four types of access modifiers. You can use any access modifier based on your choice to allow the accessibility and visibility of the class. The benefits of encapsulation include improved code readability, enhanced flexibility, increased maintainability, data protection, and enhanced security. Data scientists should learn about encapsulation to enhance their coding skills, thereby reducing the need to fix bugs and allowing them to focus on building new projects.