The theory behind getters and setters is abstraction. You are not "supposed" to deal with the data directly nor are you "supposed" to know how the data is stored and how the object works. You create an object and let it do the work for you. Getters and Setters hide implementation details of the object from the user. They don't always have to be a simple example. What about a getter called getNextToLastItem(). Does the object store the items as a list, an array, or a struct? If you use the getter, you don't have to know, nor will your code become dependant upon the implantation of the CFC.
There are several theories on getters and setters, and not everyone agrees on their usefulness. I've found some of the more advanced levels of Object Orientedness seem to lose their value, the smaller your programming team is. For instance, if you are responsible for writing the CFC AND using it, you have to know its inner workings anyway so abstraction might not be that big of a deal to you. (Not to say it still couldn't provide usefulness at some level). Regardless, design patters (like getters and setters) do not exist because your code will not work otherwise. They exist to accommodate and encourage good coding practices. YMMV. ~Brad -----Original Message----- From: Will Tomlinson [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Monday, June 23, 2008 11:46 AM To: CF-Talk Subject: Why do I need getters/setters? I'm just not understanding why I'd need a getter and a setter in my cfc. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Adobe® ColdFusion® 8 software 8 is the most important and dramatic release to date Get the Free Trial http://ad.doubleclick.net/clk;203748912;27390454;j Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Talk/message.cfm/messageid:307975 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Talk/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=89.70.4
