Why java is giving 'attempting to assign weaker access privileges' error?

Question

Can some one can tell me why java is giving 'attempting to assign weaker access privileges' compile error while compiling Abhishekchild.java ?
The two classes is :
public class  Abhishek {
       void asd()
     System.out.println("hello");
          static String a;
          public static void main (String st[])
public class  Abhishekchild extends Abhishek {
     private  void asd()
     System.out.println("hello");
          static String a;
          public static void main (String st[])
}In my opinion, java compiler is showing the error , as method asd has public visibility in Abhishek. java so
(i)it should be visble to all sub classes of Abhishek.java.
But if we override this function in Abhishekchild.java, and change the visibility to private then it will not be available for child of Abhishekchild.java. But these children are also children of Abhishek.java*, but this violates rule (i).*
So java shows a compilation error.

Answer 1

public class Parent {
     public void asd() {
          System.out.println("Hello");
class Child extends Parent {
     public void asd() {
          System.out.println("Hello from child");
     public static void main(String st[]) {
          Parent parentReference = new Child();
          // The reference 'parentReference' knows about Parent.
          // Parent has a public method asd, so below code looks ok.
          // But if child could set the method to private,
          // invoking the code below, would hit the object Child,
          // where asd() is not accessible - and everything fails.
          // Note - the compile visibility is checked according to
          // the reference, not the object itself.
          parentReference.asd();
}See my comments in the code.
- Roy