On Jan 8, 2009, at 21:27, Stuart Malin wrote:
I have a class with ivars for which there are accessors. I understand that the importance of using a setter method (or to use setValue:ForKey:) to set the ivar so that KVO operates. However, Is there a compelling reason to use, in the methods of a class, a getter method (or valueForKey:) versus directly accessing an ivar of the class?
My official opinion: use a getter unless you have a compelling reason to do otherwise.
But I'm a bit embarrassed to admit that my usual practice is the opposite -- I tend to avoid the getters AND setters within the class itself. However, in my own defense:
-- This only applies when the ivar and the property have identical semantics. (In which case they have the same name. If the semantics of one changes, but not the other, I can change the ivar name and then I get compile errors for all the places I need to fix.)
-- This only applies to garbage-collection-enabled applications, because then (in most situations) it's only the difference between 'xxx' and 'self.xxx' (whether getting or setting), and brevity favors using the ivar. In retain/release applications, the code brevity payoff tilts in favor of using the accessors.
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