posted 16 years ago
I would like to know it too, why it isn�t possible.
I know, that lots of people tell me, that nobody wants a protected class (Apart from inner classes). Well i don�t know a good reason for wanting it, too.
But that can�t be the reason why it isn�t possible.
Protected means visible to the package and thru inheritance - not visible by reference (at least in other packages).
Is it possible, that the import or the extends statements are seen as reference ?
If that would be true, than it wouldn�t make any sense to have a protected class, cause it would be the same as default, since it wouldn�t be visible in other packages.