Why does protected access also allow access from classes in same package

Question

Having been asked the question and found myself unable to answer it, I wonder if anyone can explain the reasoning why protected access implies the default access as well?

Answer 1

Sure:
---------- class A ------
package pkg;
public class A
protected static int _a;
private int _i;
public A() { _i = _a++; }
public String toString() { return "instance "+_i; }
--------- class B ------
package pkg;
public class B
public B() { A._a = 27; }
--------- class C -----
public class C extends pkg.A
-------- class main ----
public class main
public static void main(String[] args)
pkg.B b1 = new pkg.B();
pkg.A a1 = new pkg.A();
pkg.B b2 = new pkg.B();
C c1 = new C();
System.out.println("a1 is "+a1);
System.out.println("c1 is "+c1);
The above classes are legal and compile and when
run, the output is:
a1 is instance 27
c1 is instance 27
(Please note, this is just an example of what is allowed and why I'm curious as to the advantages of this permitted behaviour, NOT what I would ever write!)