Java: Variable access specifiers

Question

In java, is there a (direct) way to make a variable able to be accessed out of the class but not able to be changed? I have a variable in class A and need it in class B. I can make it public (bad-practice) but i don't want class B to be able to change it. Is there a way to do this or will I just have to make it public and be careful? Also I need to maintain the ability to change the variable from within Class A, ruling out final.

Answer 1

Yes: you can provide a getter. That's pretty much it, but that's how you're supposed to do it.

public Type getField() {
  return field;
}

Answer 2

you can use reflection to read the private values.

public class Test1 {

private int num;
public Test1(int n){
    this.num =n;
}

}

Accessing private variable

Field classField = Test1.class.
            getDeclaredField("num");
    classField.setAccessible(true);
    classField.getInt(t);
    System.out.println(classField.getInt(t));