Different Get/Set methods, which to use?

Moose Pickard

I recently came to the C# world. I have seen many get/set method variations. Which one do you use and I should use?

I listed them below:

private string name;

public string Name {

get { return name; }
set { name = value; }}

public string name; // Why would the name be public if it has a set/get thingy. Or is it a mistake?
public string Name
        { 
get { return name; } 
set { name = value; }}

public string name { get; set;}
public string name { get; private set;}

What are the differences between these. I like the last ones for their compactness.

4 Replies

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Felipe Ramos16y ago
Moose you are correct if you have it set to private you would only be able to set it at the class level. I used to code in C++ and the m_ was one of the things that stuck with me. It stood for module and if you do a search you may find other such as g_ used by vb.net to stand for global or p_ to stand for parameter. In the end it is just a coding preference. I use it because I don't like having a variable name and a property Name.

Remember:
public is for everyone
protected is for inheritance
internal is for assembly
private is class level
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Moose Pickard16y ago
In my last example you can see that the set is private.
Does that mean that setting the variable can only be done in the same class?
If I make the set/get like in the first example I can call it also from a higher object. Say for example there is an instance of a Name object in the Person object:
Name M = new Name
M.Name = "John"

How would I do it with just the last get/set notation example (public string name { get; private set;})?
Also I am curios about the variable notation You, Felipe, use. The m_ in front, what does it stand for?
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Felipe Ramos16y ago
Moose it will boil down to how flexible you want your value to be. The short hand declaration is easy to use flexible when you specify access, but in some cases you will want to make sure something happens when a property is set or loaded and will want the traditional form.
ex:

private m_name = string.empty;

public string Name
{
get
{
Load(); // This is not the best example, but if you were implementing a lazy loading pattern you will want
// to make sure your properties are loaded before you return them.
return m_name;
}
set
{
// Or maybe you want to call a function to update or encrypt the incoming value
m_name = Encrypt(value);
}
}
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Manikavelu Velayutham16y ago
Last one is the new feature of C# 3.5, No need to specify anything inside the get set methods.
Private means it will be like a read only.
public means you can get and set values to any property
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