What is an essential feature of object-oriented programming?

Data encapsulation is an essential feature of object-oriented programming because it refers to the bundling of data (attributes) and methods (functions) that operate on the data into a single unit known as an object. This encapsulation allows for restricting access to certain components of an object, which protects the integrity of the data. Through this mechanism, an object's data is hidden from the outside world (often termed "data hiding"), and it can only be accessed or modified through well-defined interfaces (methods), promoting better control over how the data is used.

Encapsulation also supports modularity, as it allows for creating complex systems by combining simpler, encapsulated objects, each responsible for its own state and behavior. This makes it easier to maintain and understand code, as changes in the encapsulated data structure or behavior can be made without affecting other parts of the program that do not depend on the details of the object’s implementation.

The other options do not capture the core principles of object-oriented programming in the same way. Global variables pertain more to procedural programming paradigms, direct memory access is typically associated with lower-level programming and does not encapsulate functionality, and function overloading is a feature that allows creating multiple functions with the same name but different parameters, which