What is the difference between attribute and property

Question

These seem to mean the same thing  But what term is more appropriate in what context

User · Answer

An attribute is the actual thing that you use within your HTML tag like

<input type="checkbox" checked="checked" />

In this instance type and checked are attributes. The property though is the value of these attributes, which the browser saves inside the DOM element. Often the value of the attributes and the properties are equal, that's what makes it so confusing.

In this example the DOM element input has the property type with the value "checkbox" and the property checked with the value true (notice how this value differs from the value inside the HTML attribute).

Using Firebug you can observe the behaviour of properties when clicking on an element and selecting the "DOM view".

User · Answer

The precise meaning of these terms is going to depend a lot on what language system universe you are talking about   In HTML XML  an attribute is the part of a tag with an equals sign and a value  and property doesn t mean anything  for example   So we need more information about what domain you re discussing

User · Answer

lt property attribute  attributeValue  gt proopertyValue lt  property gt    would be one way to look at it     In C    Attribute  public class Entity       private int Property get  set

User · Answer

What is the difference between Attribute and Property  What is the difference between Feature and Function   What is the difference between Characteristic and Character   What is the difference between Act and Behavior   Its just a change in context   Object Product Personality Person  A Person Acts in a Behavior  A Personality has Characteristics of a given Character  A Product has Feature that derive Functionality  An Object had Attributes that give it Properties

User · Answer

Delphi used properties and they have found their way into  NET  because it has the same architect    In Delphi they are often used in combination with runtime type information such that the integrated property editor can be used to set the property in designtime   Properties are not always related to fields  They can be functions that possible have side effects  but of course that is very bad design

User · Answer

In HTML it seems attributes are specific to the DOM tree while properties are used to describe the characteristics of DOM elements

User · Answer

What is the difference between Attribute and Property  What is the difference between Feature and Function   What is the difference between Characteristic and Character   What is the difference between Act and Behavior   Its just a change in context   Object Product Personality Person  A Person Acts in a Behavior  A Personality has Characteristics of a given Character  A Product has Feature that derive Functionality  An Object had Attributes that give it Properties

User · Answer

lt property attribute  attributeValue  gt proopertyValue lt  property gt    would be one way to look at it     In C    Attribute  public class Entity       private int Property get  set

User · Answer

The precise meaning of these terms is going to depend a lot on what language system universe you are talking about   In HTML XML  an attribute is the part of a tag with an equals sign and a value  and property doesn t mean anything  for example   So we need more information about what domain you re discussing

User · Answer

In HTML it seems attributes are specific to the DOM tree while properties are used to describe the characteristics of DOM elements

User · Answer

An attribute is the actual thing that you use within your HTML tag like

<input type="checkbox" checked="checked" />

In this instance type and checked are attributes. The property though is the value of these attributes, which the browser saves inside the DOM element. Often the value of the attributes and the properties are equal, that's what makes it so confusing.

In this example the DOM element input has the property type with the value "checkbox" and the property checked with the value true (notice how this value differs from the value inside the HTML attribute).

Using Firebug you can observe the behaviour of properties when clicking on an element and selecting the "DOM view".

User · Answer

The precise meaning of these terms is going to depend a lot on what language system universe you are talking about   In HTML XML  an attribute is the part of a tag with an equals sign and a value  and property doesn t mean anything  for example   So we need more information about what domain you re discussing

User · Answer

Often an attribute is used to describe the mechanism or real-world thing   A property is used to describe the model   For instance  a document  sitting on your desk  may have the attribute that it is a draft   The class that models documents has a property to indicate whether or not it s a draft   In this case the property captures the state

User · Answer

In general terms  and in normal English usage  the terms mean the same thing   In the specific context of HTML   Javascript the terms get confused because the HTML representation of a DOM element has attributes  that being the term used in XML for the key value pairs contained within a tag  but  when represented as a JavaScript object those attributes appear as object properties   To further confuse things  changes to the properties will typically update the attributes   For example  changing the element href property will update the href attribute on the element  and that ll be reflected in a call to element getAttribute  href     However if you subsequently read that property  it will have been normalised to an absolute URL  even though the attribute might be a relative URL

User · Answer

Delphi used properties and they have found their way into  NET  because it has the same architect    In Delphi they are often used in combination with runtime type information such that the integrated property editor can be used to set the property in designtime   Properties are not always related to fields  They can be functions that possible have side effects  but of course that is very bad design

User · Answer

In Python     class X  object        def   init    self            self attribute     def getAttr  self            return self attribute     def setAttr  self  value            self attribute  value     property name  property  getAttr  setAttr     A property is a single attribute-like name that wraps a collection of setter  getter  and deleter  functions     An attribute is usually a single object within another object   Having said that  however  Python gives you methods like   getattr   which allow you extend the definition of  attribute    Bottom Line - they re almost synonymous   Python makes a technical distinction in how they re implemented

User · Answer

In Python     class X  object        def   init    self            self attribute     def getAttr  self            return self attribute     def setAttr  self  value            self attribute  value     property name  property  getAttr  setAttr     A property is a single attribute-like name that wraps a collection of setter  getter  and deleter  functions     An attribute is usually a single object within another object   Having said that  however  Python gives you methods like   getattr   which allow you extend the definition of  attribute    Bottom Line - they re almost synonymous   Python makes a technical distinction in how they re implemented

User · Answer

These words existed way before Computer Science came around   Attribute is a quality or object that we attribute to someone or something  For example  the scepter is an attribute of power and statehood   Property is a quality that exists without any attribution  For example  clay has adhesive qualities  i e  a property of clay is its adhesive quality   Another example  one of the properties of metals is electrical conductivity  Properties demonstrate themselves through physical phenomena without the need to attribute them to someone or something  By the same token  saying that someone has masculine attributes is self-evident  In effect  you could say that a property is owned by someone or something    To be fair though  in Computer Science these two words  at least for the most part  can be used interchangeably - but then again programmers usually don t hold degrees in English Literature and do not write or care much about grammar books

User · Answer

In Python     class X  object        def   init    self            self attribute     def getAttr  self            return self attribute     def setAttr  self  value            self attribute  value     property name  property  getAttr  setAttr     A property is a single attribute-like name that wraps a collection of setter  getter  and deleter  functions     An attribute is usually a single object within another object   Having said that  however  Python gives you methods like   getattr   which allow you extend the definition of  attribute    Bottom Line - they re almost synonymous   Python makes a technical distinction in how they re implemented

User · Answer

lt property attribute  attributeValue  gt proopertyValue lt  property gt    would be one way to look at it     In C    Attribute  public class Entity       private int Property get  set

User · Answer

lt property attribute  attributeValue  gt proopertyValue lt  property gt    would be one way to look at it     In C    Attribute  public class Entity       private int Property get  set

User · Answer

In general terms  and in normal English usage  the terms mean the same thing   In the specific context of HTML   Javascript the terms get confused because the HTML representation of a DOM element has attributes  that being the term used in XML for the key value pairs contained within a tag  but  when represented as a JavaScript object those attributes appear as object properties   To further confuse things  changes to the properties will typically update the attributes   For example  changing the element href property will update the href attribute on the element  and that ll be reflected in a call to element getAttribute  href     However if you subsequently read that property  it will have been normalised to an absolute URL  even though the attribute might be a relative URL

User · Answer

Often an attribute is used to describe the mechanism or real-world thing   A property is used to describe the model   For instance  a document  sitting on your desk  may have the attribute that it is a draft   The class that models documents has a property to indicate whether or not it s a draft   In this case the property captures the state

User · Answer

Delphi used properties and they have found their way into  NET  because it has the same architect    In Delphi they are often used in combination with runtime type information such that the integrated property editor can be used to set the property in designtime   Properties are not always related to fields  They can be functions that possible have side effects  but of course that is very bad design

User · Answer

These words existed way before Computer Science came around   Attribute is a quality or object that we attribute to someone or something  For example  the scepter is an attribute of power and statehood   Property is a quality that exists without any attribution  For example  clay has adhesive qualities  i e  a property of clay is its adhesive quality   Another example  one of the properties of metals is electrical conductivity  Properties demonstrate themselves through physical phenomena without the need to attribute them to someone or something  By the same token  saying that someone has masculine attributes is self-evident  In effect  you could say that a property is owned by someone or something    To be fair though  in Computer Science these two words  at least for the most part  can be used interchangeably - but then again programmers usually don t hold degrees in English Literature and do not write or care much about grammar books

User · Answer

In Python     class X  object        def   init    self            self attribute     def getAttr  self            return self attribute     def setAttr  self  value            self attribute  value     property name  property  getAttr  setAttr     A property is a single attribute-like name that wraps a collection of setter  getter  and deleter  functions     An attribute is usually a single object within another object   Having said that  however  Python gives you methods like   getattr   which allow you extend the definition of  attribute    Bottom Line - they re almost synonymous   Python makes a technical distinction in how they re implemented

User · Answer

In Java  or other languages   using Property Attribute depends on usage    Property used when value doesn t change very often  usually used at startup or for environment variable  Attributes is a value  object child  of an Element  object  which can change very often all the time and be or not persistent

User · Answer

The precise meaning of these terms is going to depend a lot on what language system universe you are talking about   In HTML XML  an attribute is the part of a tag with an equals sign and a value  and property doesn t mean anything  for example   So we need more information about what domain you re discussing

User · Answer

In Java  or other languages   using Property Attribute depends on usage    Property used when value doesn t change very often  usually used at startup or for environment variable  Attributes is a value  object child  of an Element  object  which can change very often all the time and be or not persistent

User · Answer

Delphi used properties and they have found their way into  NET  because it has the same architect    In Delphi they are often used in combination with runtime type information such that the integrated property editor can be used to set the property in designtime   Properties are not always related to fields  They can be functions that possible have side effects  but of course that is very bad design

[properties] What is the difference between attribute and property?

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