[java] How do getters and setters work?

I'm from the php world. Could you explain what getters and setters are and could give you some examples?

1. The best getters / setters are smart.

Here's a javascript example from mozilla:

var o = { a:0 } // `o` is now a basic object

Object.defineProperty(o, "b", { 
    get: function () { 
        return this.a + 1; 
    } 
});

console.log(o.b) // Runs the getter, which yields a + 1 (which is 1)

I've used these A LOT because they are awesome. I would use it when getting fancy with my coding + animation. For example, make a setter that deals with an Number which displays that number on your webpage. When the setter is used it animates the old number to the new number using a tweener. If the initial number is 0 and you set it to 10 then you would see the numbers flip quickly from 0 to 10 over, let's say, half a second. Users love this stuff and it's fun to create.

2. Getters / setters in php

Example from sof

<?php
class MyClass {
  private $firstField;
  private $secondField;

  public function __get($property) {
    if (property_exists($this, $property)) {
      return $this->$property;
    }
  }

  public function __set($property, $value) {
    if (property_exists($this, $property)) {
      $this->$property = $value;
    }

    return $this;
  }
}
?>

citings:

• https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Functions/get
• http://tweener.ivank.net/
• Getter and Setter?

In Java getters and setters are completely ordinary functions. The only thing that makes them getters or setters is convention. A getter for foo is called getFoo and the setter is called setFoo. In the case of a boolean, the getter is called isFoo. They also must have a specific declaration as shown in this example of a getter and setter for 'name':

class Dummy
{
    private String name;

    public Dummy() {}

    public Dummy(String name) {
        this.name = name;
    }

    public String getName() {
        return this.name;
    }

    public void setName(String name) {
        this.name = name;
    }
}

The reason for using getters and setters instead of making your members public is that it makes it possible to change the implementation without changing the interface. Also, many tools and toolkits that use reflection to examine objects only accept objects that have getters and setters. JavaBeans for example must have getters and setters as well as some other requirements.

Here is an example to explain the most simple way of using getter and setter in java. One can do this in a more straightforward way but getter and setter have something special that is when using private member of parent class in child class in inheritance. You can make it possible through using getter and setter.

package stackoverflow;

    public class StackoverFlow 

    {

        private int x;

        public int getX()
        {
            return x;
        }

        public int setX(int x)
        {
          return  this.x = x;
        }
         public void showX()
         {
             System.out.println("value of x  "+x);
         }


        public static void main(String[] args) {

            StackoverFlow sto = new StackoverFlow();
            sto.setX(10);
            sto.getX();
            sto.showX();
        }

    }

You may also want to read "Why getter and setter methods are evil":

Though getter/setter methods are commonplace in Java, they are not particularly object oriented (OO). In fact, they can damage your code's maintainability. Moreover, the presence of numerous getter and setter methods is a red flag that the program isn't necessarily well designed from an OO perspective.

This article explains why you shouldn't use getters and setters (and when you can use them) and suggests a design methodology that will help you break out of the getter/setter mentality.

class Clock {  
        String time;  

        void setTime (String t) {  
           time = t;  
        }  

        String getTime() {  
           return time;  
        }  
}  


class ClockTestDrive {  
   public static void main (String [] args) {  
   Clock c = new Clock;  

   c.setTime("12345")  
   String tod = c.getTime();  
   System.out.println(time: " + tod);  
 }
}  

When you run the program, program starts in mains,

1. object c is created
2. function setTime() is called by the object c
3. the variable time is set to the value passed by
4. function getTime() is called by object c
5. the time is returned
6. It will passe to tod and tod get printed out