Replacing ‘public’ with ‘private’ in “main” in Java

When ‘public’ is used in ‘main’ −

Example

 Live Demo

public class Demo{
   public static void main(String args[]){
      System.out.println("This is a sample only");
   }
}

Output

This is a sample only

A class named Demo contains the main function that is public. It has a print function, which successfully compiles, executes and prints the message on the console.

When ‘public’ is replaced with ‘private’

Example

 Live Demo

public class Demo{
   private static void main(String args[]){
      System.out.println("This is a sample only");
   }
}

Output

Error: Main method not found in class Demo, please define the main method as:
public static void main(String[] args)
or a JavaFX application class must extend javafx.application.Application

A class named Demo contains the main function that is private instead of being public. It has a print function, which doesn’t successfully compile, hence giving an error stating that the ‘main’ method was not found, since it couldn’t be accessed because of it being private.