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Trail: Learning the Java Language
Lesson: Classes and Inheritance

Summary of Nested Classes

A class defined within another class is called a nested class. Like other members of a class, a nested class can be declared static or not. A nonstatic nested class is called an inner class. An instance of an inner class can exist only within an instance of its enclosing class and has access to its enclosing class's members even if they are declared private.

The following table shows the types of nested classes:

Types of Nested Classes
Type Scope Inner
static nested class member no
inner [non-static] class member yes
local class local yes
anonymous class only the point where it is defined yes

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