I have a question about how private methods work in JavaScript classes, specifically regarding their access and the role of inheritance.

My understanding is that these methods are not part of the prototype chain, and therefore, are not inherited by subclasses. However, I am confused about how instances of a class access private methods when those methods are invoked through public methods of the class.

class MyClass {
  #privateMethod() {
    return 'I am a private method';
  }

  publicMethod() {
    return this.#privateMethod(); // Access private method from within the class
  }
}

const instance = new MyClass();
console.log(instance.publicMethod()); // Logs: I am a private method

My Questions are:

1. When instance.publicMethod() is called, this inside publicMethod refers to instance. Since private methods are not part of the instance itself or the prototype chain, how does this.#privateMethod() work? How does the private method get accessed even though the instance doesn’t directly contain the private method?

2. Private methods are not supposed to be part of the prototype chain and should not be inherited by subclasses. How does the JavaScript engine handle the call to a private method from within the class? Is there an internal mechanism that allows the method to be accessed from within the class even though it’s not directly visible or part of the instance?

Thank you!