Accessing protected members

Question

Hi,
Can one of you please clarify the following doubt.
CLASS A
package com;
public class A {
     protected String name = "JAVA";
     protected void m1(){
          System.out.println("m1");     
CLASS B
package com.abc;
import com.A;
public class B extends A {
     public static void main( String [] args ) {
          B b = new B();
          b.mt();
     public void mt() {
          System.out.println("name --> " + name);
          m1();
CLASS C
package com.abc.xyz;
import com.abc.B;
public class C extends B {
     public static void main( String [] args ) {
          C c = new C();
          c.mttt();
     public void mttt() {
          System.out.println("name --> " + name);
          m1();
====================================
Now in one of the books I read that a protected member of parent class (say A) is accesible thru inheritance in a subclass in different package (say B). Perfect!
But also says that another class (say C) inheriting the above subclass either in a the same or different package cannot access the protected members of the parent class (A).
Surprisingly above code compiles and runs perfectly on my machine. Checked the JDK version and is 1.3 but the books is for 1.4
Can some one please clarify which is correct.
Thanks in Advance.

Answer 1

I was expecting a compilation error (in class C as it cannot access the protected members of class A) according to the book I read. But I observed that it is compiling and running perfectly.
Following the code again for clarity:
CLASS A
package com;
public class A {
     protected String name = "JAVA";
     protected void m1(){
          System.out.println("m1");
CLASS B
package com.abc;
import com.A;
public class B extends A {
     public static void main( String [] args ) {
          B b = new B();
          b.mt();
     public void mt() {
          System.out.println("name --> " + name);
          m1();
CLASS C
package com.abc.xyz;
import com.abc.B;
public class C extends B {
     public static void main( String [] args ) {
          C c = new C();
          c.mttt();
     public void mttt() {
          System.out.println("name --> " + name);
          m1();
}Message was edited by:
talk2key