Tackling properties in the programming

Question

I am asking a beginner level question. Though I am working in MVC but I am really confused with a simple concept and that is "Properties". There are lot of questions that I have already gone through but there is surely a doubt in mind and did'nt able to clear it up.

Actually c# properties used for getting and setting the value to the private fields.

Like

Public class MyClass
{
   private int number;
  public  int Number{
 get{ return this.number;}
 set{ number=Value }
     }
}

class Program
{
    static void Main()
    {
    MyClass example = new MyClass();
    example.Number = 5; // set { }
    Console.WriteLine(example.Number); // get { }
    }
}

Now , the value is assigned to property also and to the variable also. Right? Now , here is my doubt:: When we create property in model for MVc structure, we only have

public int Number{get;set;}

If this is okay to work with then why we are creating unnecessorily one more field of private access specifier. If encapsulation is the reason for that or hiding the data then why not in model in MVC?

Actually, in the above class example can I only use

Console.WriteLine(example.number);

after declaring it public?

Then what's the use of creating property over here?

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered Apr 21 '14 at 05:27

Properties can be used to a store and retrieve values from a backing field (number in your case) directly as in your first sample. But property getters and setters are ordinary blocks of code that you can use as you want. So you don't have to assign a backing field, but can derive the value of a property also from another property in a getter, e.g.

public int NumberTimesTwo
{
    get
    {
        return Number * 2;
    }
}

However, as a common scenario is to have a property retrieve and assign the value of a backing field, there is a shortcut that you can use:

public int Number { get; set; }

In this case, the compiler automatically creates a private backing field that the property retrieves in the getter and assigns in the setter, so the code is equivalent to the following, but less to type:

private int _number;
public into Number
{
    get
    {
        return _number;
    }
    set
    {
        _number = value;
    }
}

As the backing field is also private, you cannot access it from outside of the class directly.

score 2 · Answer 2 · edited May 23 '17 at 12:14

private int myVar;

public int MyProperty
{
    get { return myVar; }
    set { myVar = value; }
}

You are implementing Encapsulation by using MyProperty, which is public to access myVar which is private and is accessible only in the block where defined, that is, your class and not outside it.

Btw, in what way does this QA not answer your question? Try going through this for further reference.

Tackling properties in the programming

2 Answers2