[c#] How to implement a read only property

I need to implement a read only property on my type. Moreover the value of this property is going to be set in the constructor and it is not going to be changed (I am writing a class that exposes custom routed UI commands for WPF but it does not matter).

I see two ways to do it:

1. class MyClass
   {
       public readonly object MyProperty = new object();
   }
   

2. class MyClass
   {
       private readonly object my_property = new object();
       public object MyProperty { get { return my_property; } }
   }
   

With all these FxCop errors saying that I should not have public member variables, it seems that the second one is the right way to do it. Correct?

Is there any difference between a get only property and a read only member in this case?

I would appreciate any comments/advice/etc.

In C# 9 Microsoft will introduce a new way to have properties set only on initialization using the init; method like so:

public class Person
{
  public string firstName { get; init; }
  public string lastName { get; init; }
}

This way, you can assign values when initializing a new object:

var person = new Person
{
  firstname = "John",
  lastName = "Doe"
}

But later on, you cannot change it:

person.lastName = "Denver"; // throws a compiler error

The second way is the preferred option.

private readonly int MyVal = 5;

public int MyProp { get { return MyVal;}  }

This will ensure that MyVal can only be assigned at initialization (it can also be set in a constructor).

As you had noted - this way you are not exposing an internal member, allowing you to change the internal implementation in the future.

The second method is preferred because of the encapsulation. You can certainly have the readonly field be public, but that goes against C# idioms in which you have data access occur through properties and not fields.

The reasoning behind this is that the property defines a public interface and if the backing implementation to that property changes, you don't end up breaking the rest of the code because the implementation is hidden behind an interface.

With the introduction of C# 6 (in VS 2015), you can now have get-only automatic properties, in which the implicit backing field is readonly (i.e. values can be assigned in the constructor but not elsewhere):

public string Name { get; }

public Customer(string name)  // Constructor
{
    Name = name;
}

private void SomeFunction()
{
    Name = "Something Else";  // Compile-time error
}

And you can now also initialise properties (with or without a setter) inline:

public string Name { get; } = "Boris";

Referring back to the question, this gives you the advantages of option 2 (public member is a property, not a field) with the brevity of option 1.

Unfortunately, it doesn't provide a guarantee of immutability at the level of the public interface (as in @CodesInChaos's point about self-documentation), because to a consumer of the class, having no setter is indistinguishable from having a private setter.

I agree that the second way is preferable. The only real reason for that preference is the general preference that .NET classes not have public fields. However, if that field is readonly, I can't see how there would be any real objections other than a lack of consistency with other properties. The real difference between a readonly field and get-only property is that the readonly field provides a guarantee that its value will not change over the life of the object and a get-only property does not.

yet another way (my favorite), starting with C# 6

private readonly int MyVal = 5;

public int MyProp => MyVal;

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/csharp/programming-guide/classes-and-structs/properties#expression-body-definitions

You can do this:

public int Property { get { ... } private set { ... } }