What are packages used for in Java and what is their role in organizing code?

Packages in Java are used to organize classes and interfaces into logical groups. Their main purposes are:

• Code organization — packages help structure the project by separating classes based on functionality or themes.
• Avoiding name conflicts — classes with the same names can coexist in different packages.
• Access control — access modifiers (e.g., package-private) restrict the visibility of classes and members within the package.
• Simplifying dependency and import management — packages make it convenient to import necessary classes.

Example:

package com.example.utils;

public class StringUtils {
    public static boolean isEmpty(String str) {
        return str == null || str.isEmpty();
    }
}

Here, the StringUtils class is located in the com.example.utils package, which helps organize utility classes separately from business logic or other parts of the application.