Final answer:
Encapsulation provides information hiding in Object-Oriented Programming, ensuring a separation between how a class is used and its internal workings. It bundles data and methods into a class and dictates through public methods how that data can be accessed or modified. Correct answer is a. Encapsulation.
Step-by-step explanation:
In Object-Oriented Programming, encapsulation provides information hiding. It is a fundamental concept where the internal state of an object is hidden from the outside world. This is achieved by bundling the data (attributes) and the code (methods) that manipulates the data into a single unit, or class, with public methods to access the data in a controlled manner.
Encapsulation allows for a clear separation between the internal workings of a class and how it is used externally, enabling developers to protect the integrity of the data. Other external objects are unable to directly access the object's internal state; instead, they must use the object's methods to interact with it, which can enforce certain rules or validations. Thus, encapsulation helps create a modular and maintainable code structure. While inheritance and polymorphism are also concepts in Object-Oriented Programming, they serve different purposes: inheritance is used for creating new classes from existing ones, and polymorphism allows one interface to be used for different underlying forms (data types). Correct answer is a. Encapsulation.