What is the purpose of the 'package' keyword in OOP?

The 'package' keyword in Object-Oriented Programming (OOP) serves the purpose of organizing and categorizing classes and interfaces into logical groups. It provides a way to group related classes together, making it easier to manage and maintain large codebases.

The main purposes of using the 'package' keyword are as follows:

1. Encapsulation: Packages allow for encapsulation by providing a way to hide the implementation details of classes and interfaces within a package. This helps in achieving data hiding and abstraction, as classes within a package can have restricted access modifiers, such as 'private' or 'protected', limiting their visibility to other classes outside the package.

2. Namespace management: Packages provide a way to avoid naming conflicts by creating a separate namespace for classes and interfaces. Each package has a unique name, and classes within a package can be referred to using their fully qualified names, which include the package name as a prefix. This helps in organizing and structuring code, especially in large projects where multiple developers may be working simultaneously.

3. Access control: Packages also play a role in access control by allowing the use of access modifiers like 'public', 'protected', and 'private' to control the visibility of classes and members within a package. Classes and members marked as 'public' can be accessed by other classes in the same package or even from outside the package, while 'protected' members can be accessed by subclasses and classes within the same package. 'Private' members are only accessible within the class itself.

4. Code reusability: Packages facilitate code reusability by providing a way to create libraries or modules of related classes and interfaces. These packages can be easily shared and reused in different projects, promoting modular and maintainable code.

In summary, the 'package' keyword in OOP serves the purpose of organizing, encapsulating, managing namespaces, controlling access, and promoting code reusability. It is an essential feature that helps in structuring and maintaining large-scale software projects.