The point of encapsulating public variables

[proggR]

This sounds like a very newbie question I know but is there any real reason to prefer getter/setter accessor methods in situations when all they do is get and set the values of variables? It seems to me thats adding a function call when its not necessary.

I understand the point of having some variables inaccessible to outside classes or even only allowing access to things that extend your class. I can also see when you may want to only allow one or the other method of access to a variable. But is there any benefit when you're allowing both via the accessor methods anyway?

 

Maybe I'm just thinking out loud when I'm tired but I figured someone here may know.

 

Thanks in advance.

[ignace]

The reason you would not expose a class variable is that you have no control over the assigned value while through a method you do.