Var access question...

I'll probably get flak for this BUT... 

Defining and using getters for private state just adds
needless indirection and makes the resulting Java even more
function-call intensive.  I still like the naming convention
approach:
public class ComplexNumber {
        private double m_real;
        private double m_imaginary;
...
        public double magnitude() {
                return (Math.sqrt(Math.pow(m_real, 2)
                        + Math.pow(m_imaginary, 2)));
        }
...
}

This clearly distinguishes members from locals, and lets
method code work concisely with private data.  Tools like
checkstyle can enforce the convention.  I agree having
member names look like local names can be confusing.  In the
event that the method body needs to be moved away from the
state it touches, accessors will be needed.  The naming
convention makes it easy to safely change the references to
accessors, if you don't have an IDE to do the refactoring
for you.

HTH,
TW


At 10:43 AM 11/01/06, Karr, David wrote:
>I often implement private getters for properties that
should only be
>accessed from within the class.  I like to keep local
variables and
>instance variables semantically apart, to emphasize that
instance
>variables should only be declared if they're really
necessary.
>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: A mailing list for Java(tm) 2 Platform,
Enterprise
>> Edition [mailto:J2EE-INTERESTJAVA.SUN.COM] On Behalf Of
Ne'Bahn
>> Sent: Tuesday, October 31, 2006 4:59 AM
>> To: J2EE-INTERESTJAVA.SUN.COM
>> Subject: Var access question...
>>
>> Hi list, I'm wondering if it's a good practice to
access
>> fields (in the same class) through its names and
not by its
>> accessors, e.g.
>>
>> public class ComplexNumber {
>>  private double U;
>>  private double V;
>>
>> // constructor deleted
>>
>>  public double real() {
>>   return U;
>>  }
>>
>>  public double imaginary() {
>>   return V;
>>  }
>>
>>  public double magnitude() {
>>   return (Math.sqrt(Math.pow(U, 2) + Math.pow(V,
2)));
>>   // access here must be U or real(), same with V 
}
>>
>>  public double arg() throws ArithmeticException {
>>   return (Math.atan(V / U));
>>   // access here must be U or real(), same with V 
}
>>
>> public ComplexNumber times(ComplexNumber Z) {
>>   return new ComplexNumber(U * Z.U - V * Z.V, U *
Z.V + V * Z.U);  } }
>>
>> I think it accomplish to OOP rules (encapsulation),
the
>> object itself manages its state interacting with
its fields
>> and no other can change their properties, but I've
seen many
>> samples that use getters methods to access values,
I don't
>> know why...any clue ??? ...

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