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I would like to make my property fully private (get and set) if so is it better to just use private variable instead of property or use private property itself?

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'ok i can use _foo within class and Foo in outside classes Private _foo As String Private Property Foo() As String Get Return _foo End Get Set(value As String) _foo = value End Set End Property 'issue as cannot use _name with class Property Name as String 'it's ok i can use _age within class but looks not good as e.g above Name... without undescore.. Private _age as Integer
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    @Bugs so either one or another can be used but i think i will use Private variable instead of private property. But one thing i dont like to see is my class contains properties mixed with private variables dont like how it looks ... :) Commented Mar 20, 2017 at 15:03

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There is no real difference between:

Private _foo As String Private Property Foo() As String Get Return _foo End Get Set(value As String) _foo = value End Set End Property

And:

Private Foo As String

The keyword Private keeps it within the scope of the class. That's all. You now can't access Foo in either context from anywhere other than where it was declared.

There are a couple of advantages to using a Property however. For one, you can make a property ReadOnly for access:

Private _foo As String Public ReadOnly Property Foo() As String Get Return _foo End Get End Property

This allows for access outside of the class it originates from. You can do all the setting on _foo within the originating class without worrying about this being changed outside the class.

Another advantage to a Property is you can raise events and/or log changes:

Private _foo As String Public Property Foo() As String Get Return _foo End Get Set(value As String) If Not (value = _foo) Then _foo = value NotifyPropertyChanged() End If End Set End Property

You can also validate the value being set and/or update other private fields:

Private _foo As Integer Public WriteOnly Property Foo() As Integer Set(value As Integer) _foo = value If _foo > 10 Then _bar = True End If End Set End Property Private _bar As Boolean Public ReadOnly Property Bar() As Boolean Get Return _bar End Get End Property

A Property can also be used for DataBinding whilst a field cannot.

I'm sure there are other differences however this should give you a good indication as to whether you require the use of a Property or whether a field is good enough.

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