Public property or variable ?

[Stefan De Schepper]

Should I use:

Private m_Name As String

Public Property Name() As String
Get
Return m_Name
End Get
Set(ByVal Value As String)
m_Name = Value
End Set
End Property

or just

Public Name As String

The last one just has to be faster, or am I wrong?

Stefan

[Herfried K. Wagner [MVP]]

Re: Public property or variable ?

"Stefan De Schepper" <stefan.de.sche pper@skynet.be> schrieb:[color=blue]
> Should I use:
>
> Private m_Name As String
>
> Public Property Name() As String
> Get
> Return m_Name
> End Get
> Set(ByVal Value As String)
> m_Name = Value
> End Set
> End Property
>
> or just
>
> Public Name As String
>
> The last one just has to be faster, or am I wrong?[/color]

If 'Name' is an attribute of the entity represented by the class, I strongly
recommend to use a property instead of a public variable.

--
M S Herfried K. Wagner
M V P <URL:http://dotnet.mvps.org/>
V B <URL:http://classicvb.org/petition/>

[Scott M.]

Re: Public property or variable ?

When you create a Property, you'll have a Set section to write validation
code into. If you just use a Public field any string value passed to it
must be accepted. Properties also help you create your class in a more
object oriented way since the property acts as an abstraction layer to the
internal data. In other words, you'll be creating more of a "black box" if
you use the property.


"Stefan De Schepper" <stefan.de.sche pper@skynet.be> wrote in message
news:42dd6a01$0 $4281$ba620e4c@ news.skynet.be. ..[color=blue]
> Should I use:
>
> Private m_Name As String
>
> Public Property Name() As String
> Get
> Return m_Name
> End Get
> Set(ByVal Value As String)
> m_Name = Value
> End Set
> End Property
>
> or just
>
> Public Name As String
>
> The last one just has to be faster, or am I wrong?
>
> Stefan
>
>[/color]

[ThunderMusic]

Re: Public property or variable ?

There is a major difference between the usefulness of properties and
variables. There are what the others have said about it being more object
oriented and it's true, but there are other reasons.

Let's say, for some reason, you want the Name property to be readonly, you
can't do it with the public variable, but you can with the property. Let's
say you have some bug and you want to log every action in your application,
but using a property you can add a line like Log.WriteLine(" SettingName: " &
Value) and there you go. You can't do this neither with the public variable

I hope you get the point and I hope it helps

ThunderMusic

"Stefan De Schepper" <stefan.de.sche pper@skynet.be> a écrit dans le message
de news:42dd6a01$0 $4281$ba620e4c@ news.skynet.be. ..[color=blue]
> Should I use:
>
> Private m_Name As String
>
> Public Property Name() As String
> Get
> Return m_Name
> End Get
> Set(ByVal Value As String)
> m_Name = Value
> End Set
> End Property
>
> or just
>
> Public Name As String
>
> The last one just has to be faster, or am I wrong?
>
> Stefan
>
>[/color]

[Dennis]

RE: Public property or variable ?

As you can see that from the responses, people on this newsgroup don't like
fields but are stuck on properties. I find fields useful in certain
situations and would suggest you use whatever is best for you. As for the
speed, I wrote a test program to read and write to both a string field and a
stirng property where the property was stored as a private variable. I did
this for 10m cycles and found very little difference then upped it to 100m
cycles and found that reading/writing to a field is pretty consistently 120
seconds faster than reading/writing a property on my computer.
--
Dennis in Houston


"Stefan De Schepper" wrote:
[color=blue]
> Should I use:
>
> Private m_Name As String
>
> Public Property Name() As String
> Get
> Return m_Name
> End Get
> Set(ByVal Value As String)
> m_Name = Value
> End Set
> End Property
>
> or just
>
> Public Name As String
>
> The last one just has to be faster, or am I wrong?
>
> Stefan
>
>
>[/color]

[Scott M.]

Re: Public property or variable ?

As for your performance test, it's obvious that working with just the field
will perform better. But, if you read the responses, you'll see why we are
"stuck" on properties. They offer much more security and flexibility than
fields and in all but the most demanding situations does the performance gap
that you mention actually make a difference.


"Dennis" <Dennis@discuss ions.microsoft. com> wrote in message
news:FE96CCE2-0690-48E2-B843-699FAC835BD6@mi crosoft.com...[color=blue]
> As you can see that from the responses, people on this newsgroup don't
> like
> fields but are stuck on properties. I find fields useful in certain
> situations and would suggest you use whatever is best for you. As for
> the
> speed, I wrote a test program to read and write to both a string field and
> a
> stirng property where the property was stored as a private variable. I
> did
> this for 10m cycles and found very little difference then upped it to 100m
> cycles and found that reading/writing to a field is pretty consistently
> 120
> seconds faster than reading/writing a property on my computer.
> --
> Dennis in Houston
>
>
> "Stefan De Schepper" wrote:
>[color=green]
>> Should I use:
>>
>> Private m_Name As String
>>
>> Public Property Name() As String
>> Get
>> Return m_Name
>> End Get
>> Set(ByVal Value As String)
>> m_Name = Value
>> End Set
>> End Property
>>
>> or just
>>
>> Public Name As String
>>
>> The last one just has to be faster, or am I wrong?
>>
>> Stefan
>>
>>
>>[/color][/color]

[Jay B. Harlow [MVP - Outlook]]

Re: Public property or variable ?

ThunderMusic,
| Let's say, for some reason, you want the Name property to be readonly, you
| can't do it with the public variable, but you can with the property.
You can make public & private fields (variables) readonly, by adorning them
with the Readonly keyword. Such as:

Public Readonly Name As String

When you use Readonly on a field you can only set the field in the
constructor.

Public Sub New(ByVal name As String)
Me.Name = name
End Sub

I use readonly fields in my classes when the value of said field is
immutable for the lifetime of that instance of the object. This ensures that
I or one of my predecessors know that the field itself is not meant to
change...

NOTE: Readonly properties with read/write fields are useful for "State"
properties such as SqlConnection.S tate where the property reports the
"state" of the object, while other methods (Open, Close) modify that
"state".

| but using a property you can add a line like Log.WriteLine(" SettingName: "
&
| Value) and there you go. You can't do this neither with the public
variable
Agreed...

Hope this helps
Jay


"ThunderMus ic" <NOdanylat@symp atico.caSPAMATA LL> wrote in message
news:%23ElDwxKj FHA.2920@TK2MSF TNGP14.phx.gbl. ..
| There is a major difference between the usefulness of properties and
| variables. There are what the others have said about it being more object
| oriented and it's true, but there are other reasons.
|
| Let's say, for some reason, you want the Name property to be readonly, you
| can't do it with the public variable, but you can with the property. Let's
| say you have some bug and you want to log every action in your
application,
| but using a property you can add a line like Log.WriteLine(" SettingName: "
&
| Value) and there you go. You can't do this neither with the public
variable
|
| I hope you get the point and I hope it helps
|
| ThunderMusic
|
| "Stefan De Schepper" <stefan.de.sche pper@skynet.be> a écrit dans le
message
| de news:42dd6a01$0 $4281$ba620e4c@ news.skynet.be. ..
| > Should I use:
| >
| > Private m_Name As String
| >
| > Public Property Name() As String
| > Get
| > Return m_Name
| > End Get
| > Set(ByVal Value As String)
| > m_Name = Value
| > End Set
| > End Property
| >
| > or just
| >
| > Public Name As String
| >
| > The last one just has to be faster, or am I wrong?
| >
| > Stefan
| >
| >
|
|

[Jay B. Harlow [MVP - Outlook]]

Re: Public property or variable ?

Dennis,
| I did
| this for 10m cycles and found very little difference then upped it to 100m
| cycles and found that reading/writing to a field is pretty consistently
120
| seconds faster than reading/writing a property on my computer.

I would expect your results to be closer to zero, as there is a good chance
the JIT will inline the property Getter & Setter.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/dndotnet/html/highperfmanagedapps.asp

Did you test the Debug or Release build of your app?

Did you test from a command prompt or from Visual Studio?

If you tested the Debug build from Visual Studio, then the JIT will not
attempt to optimize the code. However if you tested the Release build from
the command line then the JIT will attempt to "fully" optimize the code.

Your numbers suggests you tested a Debug build, possible under Visual
Studio!

Try the following from a command prompt for both Debug & Release builds:

Declare Function QueryPerformanc eCounter Lib "Kernel32" (ByRef X As
Long) As Short
Declare Function QueryPerformanc eFrequency Lib "Kernel32" (ByRef X As
Long) As Short

Private Class Person

Public m_name As String

Public Sub New(ByVal name As String)
m_name = name
End Sub

Public Property Name() As String
Get
Return m_name
End Get
Set(ByVal value As String)
m_name = value
End Set
End Property
End Class

Public Shared Sub Main()
Const MaxCount As Integer = 1000000
Const format As String = "{1}: {0}"

Dim aPerson As New Person("Jay")

For outerCount As Integer = 1 To 5
Dim start, finish, frequency As Long
QueryPerformanc eFrequency(freq uency)

QueryPerformanc eCounter(start)
For innerCount As Integer = 1 To MaxCount
aPerson.Name = "Fred"
Next
QueryPerformanc eCounter(finish )
Console.WriteLi ne(format, TimeSpan.FromSe conds((finish - start)
/ frequency), "Property")

QueryPerformanc eCounter(start)
For innerCount As Integer = 1 To MaxCount
aPerson.m_name = "Fred"
Next
QueryPerformanc eCounter(finish )
Console.WriteLi ne(format, TimeSpan.FromSe conds((finish - start)
/ frequency), "Field")
Next

End Sub

For Debug builds you should see Property much larger then Field. For Release
builds you should see both numbers nearly the same.

Hope this helps
Jay




"Dennis" <Dennis@discuss ions.microsoft. com> wrote in message
news:FE96CCE2-0690-48E2-B843-699FAC835BD6@mi crosoft.com...
| As you can see that from the responses, people on this newsgroup don't
like
| fields but are stuck on properties. I find fields useful in certain
| situations and would suggest you use whatever is best for you. As for
the
| speed, I wrote a test program to read and write to both a string field and
a
| stirng property where the property was stored as a private variable. I
did
| this for 10m cycles and found very little difference then upped it to 100m
| cycles and found that reading/writing to a field is pretty consistently
120
| seconds faster than reading/writing a property on my computer.
| --
| Dennis in Houston
|
|
| "Stefan De Schepper" wrote:
|
| > Should I use:
| >
| > Private m_Name As String
| >
| > Public Property Name() As String
| > Get
| > Return m_Name
| > End Get
| > Set(ByVal Value As String)
| > m_Name = Value
| > End Set
| > End Property
| >
| > or just
| >
| > Public Name As String
| >
| > The last one just has to be faster, or am I wrong?
| >
| > Stefan
| >
| >
| >

[Jay B. Harlow [MVP - Outlook]]

Re: Public property or variable ?

Stefan,
In addition to the other comments.

| The last one just has to be faster, or am I wrong?
Your wrong! The JIT compiler has the option to inline the property Get & Set
routines (actually any short method). Which means the Property will execute
exactly the same as a Field! See my response to Dennis on details & a
demonstration.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/dndotnet/html/highperfmanagedapps.asp

I would be more concerned about what is "correct". The property suggests
better encapsulation, remember Encapsulation is one of the major tenants of
OO.

Properties also play nicer with System.Componen tModel,
System.Windows. Forms.PropertyG rid and COM interop.

I would not code a field or property based on perceived runtime performance.

Remember the 80/20 rule. That is 80% of the execution time of your program
is spent in 20% of your code. I will optimize (worry about performance,
memory consumption) the 20% once that 20% has been identified & proven to be
a performance problem via profiling (CLR Profiler is one profiling tool).

For info on the 80/20 rule & optimizing only the 20% see Martin Fowler's
article "Yet Another Optimization Article" at

http://martinfowler.com/ieeeSoftware/yetOptimization.pdf

Here are some thoughts on not using properties:

http://blogs.msdn.com/ericgu/archive/2004/04/29/123588.aspx

Hope this helps
Jay


"Stefan De Schepper" <stefan.de.sche pper@skynet.be> wrote in message
news:42dd6a01$0 $4281$ba620e4c@ news.skynet.be. ..
| Should I use:
|
| Private m_Name As String
|
| Public Property Name() As String
| Get
| Return m_Name
| End Get
| Set(ByVal Value As String)
| m_Name = Value
| End Set
| End Property
|
| or just
|
| Public Name As String
|
| The last one just has to be faster, or am I wrong?
|
| Stefan
|
|

[Dennis]

Re: Public property or variable ?

You are correct in that I tested it in debug mode. As for using Properties
vs Fields, I fully understand the consequences of using one over the other so
I use what works for me in a particulair situation. I'm not a purist and I
know there are several ways to skin a cat! If I have a class that contains
something like a boolean value and it's independent of whatever else is in
the class, I see no reason to not just use a field.

--
Dennis in Houston


"Jay B. Harlow [MVP - Outlook]" wrote:
[color=blue]
> Dennis,
> | I did
> | this for 10m cycles and found very little difference then upped it to 100m
> | cycles and found that reading/writing to a field is pretty consistently
> 120
> | seconds faster than reading/writing a property on my computer.
>
> I would expect your results to be closer to zero, as there is a good chance
> the JIT will inline the property Getter & Setter.
>
> http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/de...anagedapps.asp
>
>
>
> Did you test the Debug or Release build of your app?
>
> Did you test from a command prompt or from Visual Studio?
>
> If you tested the Debug build from Visual Studio, then the JIT will not
> attempt to optimize the code. However if you tested the Release build from
> the command line then the JIT will attempt to "fully" optimize the code.
>
> Your numbers suggests you tested a Debug build, possible under Visual
> Studio!
>
> Try the following from a command prompt for both Debug & Release builds:
>
> Declare Function QueryPerformanc eCounter Lib "Kernel32" (ByRef X As
> Long) As Short
> Declare Function QueryPerformanc eFrequency Lib "Kernel32" (ByRef X As
> Long) As Short
>
> Private Class Person
>
> Public m_name As String
>
> Public Sub New(ByVal name As String)
> m_name = name
> End Sub
>
> Public Property Name() As String
> Get
> Return m_name
> End Get
> Set(ByVal value As String)
> m_name = value
> End Set
> End Property
> End Class
>
> Public Shared Sub Main()
> Const MaxCount As Integer = 1000000
> Const format As String = "{1}: {0}"
>
> Dim aPerson As New Person("Jay")
>
> For outerCount As Integer = 1 To 5
> Dim start, finish, frequency As Long
> QueryPerformanc eFrequency(freq uency)
>
> QueryPerformanc eCounter(start)
> For innerCount As Integer = 1 To MaxCount
> aPerson.Name = "Fred"
> Next
> QueryPerformanc eCounter(finish )
> Console.WriteLi ne(format, TimeSpan.FromSe conds((finish - start)
> / frequency), "Property")
>
> QueryPerformanc eCounter(start)
> For innerCount As Integer = 1 To MaxCount
> aPerson.m_name = "Fred"
> Next
> QueryPerformanc eCounter(finish )
> Console.WriteLi ne(format, TimeSpan.FromSe conds((finish - start)
> / frequency), "Field")
> Next
>
> End Sub
>
> For Debug builds you should see Property much larger then Field. For Release
> builds you should see both numbers nearly the same.
>
> Hope this helps
> Jay
>
>
>
>
> "Dennis" <Dennis@discuss ions.microsoft. com> wrote in message
> news:FE96CCE2-0690-48E2-B843-699FAC835BD6@mi crosoft.com...
> | As you can see that from the responses, people on this newsgroup don't
> like
> | fields but are stuck on properties. I find fields useful in certain
> | situations and would suggest you use whatever is best for you. As for
> the
> | speed, I wrote a test program to read and write to both a string field and
> a
> | stirng property where the property was stored as a private variable. I
> did
> | this for 10m cycles and found very little difference then upped it to 100m
> | cycles and found that reading/writing to a field is pretty consistently
> 120
> | seconds faster than reading/writing a property on my computer.
> | --
> | Dennis in Houston
> |
> |
> | "Stefan De Schepper" wrote:
> |
> | > Should I use:
> | >
> | > Private m_Name As String
> | >
> | > Public Property Name() As String
> | > Get
> | > Return m_Name
> | > End Get
> | > Set(ByVal Value As String)
> | > m_Name = Value
> | > End Set
> | > End Property
> | >
> | > or just
> | >
> | > Public Name As String
> | >
> | > The last one just has to be faster, or am I wrong?
> | >
> | > Stefan
> | >
> | >
> | >
>
>
>[/color]