Explain what are accessor methods?

An accessor method is a method that fetches private data that is stored within an object. An accessor provides the means by which to obtain the state of an object from other program parts. This is a preferred method in object-oriented paradigms as it provides an abstraction layer that hides the implementation details of functionality sets. An accessor doesn’t need arguments and it has the same type as the retrieved variable. The name of the accessor begins with the Get prefix and a naming convention is necessary while defining accessor methods.
Though a new dependent code is contained within accessor methods, yet they directly access state data. Furthermore, within a database fetch, the dependent code need not be changed. This is also an advantage of this type of object-oriented programming.

When comparing two data items, two access method calls are necessary in order to make the comparison. Accessors seek underlying data such as data creation, data retrieval, initialization, as well as modification. The accessor method is basically a type of instance method that contains a sequence of programming statements for the purpose of performing an action, customizing those actions with a parameter and producing a return value of some sort. An accessor function or method must be called to access a private object member.