Tim vs. Accessors

Bert Freudenberg bert at freudenbergs.de
Tue Oct 9 07:46:31 UTC 2007


On Oct 9, 2007, at 3:39 , Ron Teitelbaum wrote:

> Their presence is not an
> invitation to use them just as having a method is not an invitation  
> to use
> it either.

For novices it is. Since we do not have any documentation of what  
methods comprise the "public interface" of a class, we always tell  
them to go look in the browser to find out.

> Sure you can chain yourself into a mess and do many many bad
> things with accessors and mutators but you shouldn't do those  
> things and
> there is no replacement for talent and experience.

True. However, I've seen what people do. Inexperienced programmers  
usually shy away from modifying other classes.
Not having accessors for each and everything in the first place makes  
them look for more appropriate methods.

- Bert -





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