Here is how I described the whole issue of PHP class aspect (property/method) accessing. Is it enough accurate?
Class aspects (properties/methods) can be accessed by the methods of other classes.
We could use an Access Modifier to limit such access:
* Public aspect - methods of all other classes can read/rewrite it.
* Protected aspect - methods of certain other classes can read/rewrite it.
* Private aspect - methods from other classes aren't allowed to read/rewrie it.
Well, Public, Private, and Protected are the 3 visibility scopes for methods. Public methods can be accessed every where, within the current class, and the inherited class. Protected methods can be accessed from within only Public methods that exist within the current class and can be inherited by a child class. Private methods can only be accessed within the current class and can not be inherited by the child class.