Access private field without getter method?

java

Solution

See this table:

                   Access Levels
Modifier     | Class  | Package   |  Subclass | World
-------------+--------+-----------+-----------+--------
public       |   Y    |     Y     |     Y     |   Y
protected    |   Y    |     Y     |     Y     |   N
no modifier  |   Y    |     Y     |     N     |   N
private      |   Y  ← |     N     |     N     |   N

Problem

Here is an excerpt from JDK7 source code: ``` public String(String original) { this.value = original.value; this.hash = original.hash; } ``` Both `value` and `hash` are `private` field. Why is `original.value` legal?

Original source