Is it bad practice to make a setter return “this”?

Question

Is it a good or bad idea to make setters in java return \"this\"?

public Employee setName(String name){
   this.name = name;
   return this;
}

Answer 1

I used to prefer this approach but I have decided against it.

Reasons:

• Readability. It makes the code more readable to have each setFoo() on a separate line. You usually read the code many, many more times than the single time you write it.
• Side effect: setFoo() should only set field foo, nothing else. Returning this is an extra "WHAT was that".

The Builder pattern I saw do not use the setFoo(foo).setBar(bar) convention but more foo(foo).bar(bar). Perhaps for exactly those reasons.

It is, as always a matter of taste. I just like the "least surprises" approach.