Benefits of getter/setter VS public vars

gettersetter

Is there a benifit to using:

private var _someProp:String;

public function set someProp(value:String):void
{
    _someProp = value;
}
public function get someProp():String
{
    return _someProp;
}

As opposed to just using:

public var someProp:String;

I realise using getter/setter can be useful when you need to further processing or need to be notified of when the property is changed like so:

public function set someProp(value:String):void
{
    _someProp = value;
    _somePropChanged = true;
    doSomethingElse();
}

But if you don't need this, then is there any reason to use getter/setter over just using a public var?

Thanks!!

Best Answer

Depending on your language, you should prefer getter/setter up front because you can't introduce them later (I'm looking at you, Java) if it turns out you do need them.

Related Solutions

Java – Simple Getter/Setter comments

Absolutely pointless - you're better off without this kind of crap cluttering your code:

/**
 * Sets the foo.
 * 
 * @param foo the foo to set
 */
public void setFoo(float foo);

Very useful, if warranted:

/**
 * Foo is the adjustment factor used in the Bar-calculation. It has a default
 * value depending on the Baz type, but can be adjusted on a per-case base.
 * 
 * @param foo must be greater than 0 and not greater than MAX_FOO.
 */
public void setFoo(float foo);

Especially the explanation of what the property actually means can be crucial in domain models. Whenever I see a bean full of properties with obscure names that only investment bankers, biochemists or quantum physicists understand, and the comments explain that the setGobbledygook() method "sets the gobbledygook.", I want to strangle someone.

Java – Best way of invoking getter by reflection

I think this should point you towards the right direction:

import java.beans.*

for (PropertyDescriptor pd : Introspector.getBeanInfo(Foo.class).getPropertyDescriptors()) {
  if (pd.getReadMethod() != null && !"class".equals(pd.getName()))
    System.out.println(pd.getReadMethod().invoke(foo));
}

Note that you could create BeanInfo or PropertyDescriptor instances yourself, i.e. without using Introspector. However, Introspector does some caching internally which is normally a Good Thing (tm). If you're happy without a cache, you can even go for

// TODO check for non-existing readMethod
Object value = new PropertyDescriptor("name", Person.class).getReadMethod().invoke(person);

However, there are a lot of libraries that extend and simplify the java.beans API. Commons BeanUtils is a well known example. There, you'd simply do:

Object value = PropertyUtils.getProperty(person, "name");

BeanUtils comes with other handy stuff. i.e. on-the-fly value conversion (object to string, string to object) to simplify setting properties from user input.

Best Answer

Related Solutions

Java – Simple Getter/Setter comments

Java – Best way of invoking getter by reflection

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