Property (programming)

In a variety of object-oriented programming languages, property is a member of the class that provides the procedures for operating on a data member of that class. Properties provide a higher level of encapsulation compared to public fields.

Support in languages

Programming languages that support properies include Delphi (programming language), Visual Basic and C#. Some object-oriented languages, such as C++ and Java, don't support properties, and require the programmer to define a pair of accessor and mutator methods instead.

Example syntax

Delphi

type TPen = class
  private
    m_Color: Integer;
    function Get_Color: Integer;
    procedure Set_Color(RHS: Integer);
  public
    property Color: Integer read Get_Color write Set_Color;
end;

function TPen.Get_Color: Integer;
begin
  Result := m_Color
end;
procedure TPen.Set_Color(RHS: Integer);
begin
  m_Color := RHS
end;

Visual Basic

Private m_Color As Long

Public Property Get Color() As Long
    Color = m_Color
End Property

Public Property Let Color(ByVal RHS As Long)
    m_Color = RHS
End Property

C#

(will post in an hour)

See also

• Method (computer science)
• Field (computer science)