Using a getter method is a better design choice for a long-lived class as it allows you to replace the getter method with something more complicated in the future. Although this seems less likely to be needed for a const value, the cost is low and the possible benefits are large.
As an aside, in C++, it's an especially good idea to give both the getter and setter for a member the same name, since in the future you can then actually change the the pair of methods:
class Foo {
public:
std::string const& name() const; // Getter
void name(std::string const& newName); // Setter
...
};
Into a single, public member variable that defines an operator()() for each:
// This class encapsulates a fancier type of name
class fancy_name {
public:
// Getter
std::string const& operator()() const {
return _compute_fancy_name(); // Does some internal work
}
// Setter
void operator()(std::string const& newName) {
_set_fancy_name(newName); // Does some internal work
}
...
};
class Foo {
public:
fancy_name name;
...
};
The client code will need to be recompiled of course, but no syntax changes are required! Obviously, this transformation works just as well for const values, in which only a getter is needed.