Easy way to Increment private variables?

Question

I was wondering if there was an easier way to increment another class's private variables. Here is how I generally would go about it:

If I only need to do this rarely in my code:

pc.setActionsCurrent(pc.getActionsCurrent()-1);

If I need to do lots of incrementing, I would just make a special setter:

//In the PC class
public void spendAction(){
    this.actionsCurrent--;
}

//In the incrementing Class
pc.spendAction();

Is there a better way to go about this? If the variable were public

pc.actionsCurrent--;

would be enough, and I can't help but feel I'm over-complicating things.

Define a getter/setter for that private field. This is the standard way to go about doing this. — Tim Biegeleisen, Aug 11 '15 at 03:50
Encapsulation. Your private variables should not be changed by another object. — Romain Hippeau, Aug 11 '15 at 03:52
Everywhere you said incrementing but your code says you are decrementing. — Jayesh, Aug 11 '15 at 03:53
if your variable is public then what can be best then object.propertyName++; or object.propertyName--; — Jayesh, Aug 11 '15 at 03:54
I felt the same way when I was beginning to program. There are too many codes to write just to decrease a variable by one. But I was just used to it later. — d_air, Aug 11 '15 at 04:01

score 2 · Answer 1 · answered Aug 11 '15 at 03:55

2

No. The method abstraction is generally the way to go about it, you might also pass in the increment value (and you can leverage that in your implementation). Consider something like

private long increment = 1;
private long myVariable = 0;
public void setMyVariable(long myVariable) {
    this.myVariable = myVariable;
}
public void setIncrement(long increment) {
    this.increment = increment;
}
public long getMyVariable() {
    return this.myVariable;
}
public void addToMyVariable(long val) {
   this.myVariable += val;
}
public void incrementMyVariable() {
   addToMyVariable(increment);
}

The above would allow the increment value to vary (and this is generally called encapsulation).

answered Aug 11 '15 at 03:55

Elliott Frisch

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OP is asking easy way. – Piyush Mittal Aug 11 '15 at 03:59
1

@PiyushMittal Pay a programmer? – Elliott Frisch Aug 11 '15 at 04:04
i guess the snippet you have given is little bit complex. @Elliott – Piyush Mittal Aug 11 '15 at 04:07
So pretty much my specialized setter example? All I was looking for is the simplest possible way to do ++ or -- on a private variable. But I'll keep your example in mind if I ever need more complex incrementation. – dGFisher Aug 11 '15 at 04:10
I can't see the point of having the increment as a member variable. It would be far simpler to supply it as a parameter. Otherwise it isn't so different from the original code, and has the same timing window problems. – user207421 Aug 11 '15 at 04:17

user207421 · Accepted Answer · 2015-08-11T06:28:35.543

1

Just define an increment method. For generality you could supply the increment as a parameter, and it could be negative:

public void increment(int augend)
{
    this.actionsCurrent += augend;
}

edited Aug 11 '15 at 06:28

answered Aug 11 '15 at 04:19

user207421

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Easy way to Increment private variables?

2 Answers2