Why is the transient keyword needed for fields in Java?

Hi everyone! I started learning Java and came across the `transient` keyword when declaring class fields. I read the documentation but still don't fully understand why it's needed and in what cases to use it. I have a `User` class: ```java import java.io.Serializable; public class User implements Serializable { private String username; private String password; private int age; } ``` I know that `Serializable` allows saving objects to a file or transmitting over a network via the serialization mechanism. But why mark a field as `transient`? If I want a field not to be serialized, why not just make it `static` or remove it from the class? I'm especially confused by the password example. Suppose I don't want to save the password to a file. If I declare the field `passwo