[Tutor] Design - getFoo and setFoo methods

[Alexandre Ratti]

Hello,


When do you use getFoo() and setFoo() methods in your classes? (I think 
there can be called "accessors"?).

The question came up on c.l.py a couple of days ago and most participants 
said they did not usually use them, eg. they access attributes directly.

=> Do you only use get and set methods when data needs some extra work 
before it can be stored or returned?

=> If yes, do you use the _ convention in attribute names to remember when 
attributes can be accessed directly? Eg. self.foo can be read and written 
directly, but self._foo should not.

So far I used many set and get methods, but now I wonder whether they 
really make sense when data is not somehow transformed before 
storing/returning.


Thanks again.

Alexandre