Visibility dictates the accessibility of a member (attribute or operation) and can be designated by placing a notation before the member's name. In general, you want to give only as much accessibility as is needed. The following table details the most common visibility notations:
| Notation | Visibility | Description |
| + |
Public
|
Member is accessible by other types.
|
| # |
Protected
|
Member is accessible within the same type as well as types that inherit from it.
|
| ~ |
Package
|
Member is accessible from any type within the same package. It is not accessible from outside the package, even if it is an inheriting class.
|
| - |
Private
|
Member is accessible only within the type that declares it.
|
For example, the following diagram shows the Order class, which has two private attributes, OrderId and OrderDate, as well as two public operations, CalculateTax and CalculateTotal:
