From: Alex Fenton <alex@...>
Date: 2005-12-14T05:42:39+09:00
Subject: Re: Private attribute or accessor?

Sam Kong wrote:

> In my opinion, if there're accessors (getter and setter), using them in
> the class is better than directly accessing the instance data.
> However, most codes I've seen access the data directly.

Another advantage of using accessor methods (self.foo = ) over variables (@foo =) is that it can help avoid typo bugs. Variables are initialised to nil, so if you write @the_variable in one place and later elsewhere read @thevariable, you don't get an immediate complaint. If you typo an accessor method, you get an immediate NoMethodError . 

I've moved to this style over time - also because it's easier (I find) to do things using method reflection - eg adding and notifying observers.

a