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  • Thanks for your answer.But could you explain what you meant by "full representational power of int".I think you meant to say that it's better to express it using an data type date rather than using it using int isn't it? Commented Nov 28, 2014 at 9:32
  • Not in this case. A user-defined type could constrain the values to 1..31, but even that isn't good enough, since not all months go up to 31. You really do need a user-defined class that handles all three components atomically to get it right, so nothing simpler than a true Date class with three components will suffice. Commented Nov 28, 2014 at 9:34
  • :Could you tell where emphasis is given on 'information hiding' because I couldn't find them trying to hide information from the user in the given link. Commented Nov 28, 2014 at 12:42
  • :Could you tell me whay the cost of conversion was estimated to be billion of dollars as stated in the post? Commented Nov 28, 2014 at 12:52
  • @justin: Slides 4 through 6 explain what happens when something exposed has to change. Consider the cost of having to change all of the now-broken code across one large system. Then think about thousands or millions of systems worldwide that need the same changes. Slide 9 explains why you want to do information hiding, and, indirectly, what costs you save by doing it. Commented Nov 28, 2014 at 13:30