Performance overhead for properties in .NET

Question

I read somewhere that having public properties is preferable to having public members in a class.

1. Is this only because of abstaraction and modularity? Are

Answer 1

Running the test 20 times in a row, ensuring that JIT optimization is enabled in the Release build:

Time for 1 and 2 : 47,66
Time for 1 and 2 : 37,42
Time for 1 and 2 : 25,36
Time for 1 and 2 : 25,25
Time for 1 and 2 : 27,25
Time for 1 and 2 : 25,25
Time for 1 and 2 : 26,25
Time for 1 and 2 : 25,25
Time for 1 and 2 : 25,25
Time for 1 and 2 : 25,25
Time for 1 and 2 : 25,25
Time for 1 and 2 : 25,25
Time for 1 and 2 : 25,25
Time for 1 and 2 : 25,25
Time for 1 and 2 : 25,25
Time for 1 and 2 : 25,25
Time for 1 and 2 : 25,25
Time for 1 and 2 : 25,25
Time for 1 and 2 : 25,25
Time for 1 and 2 : 25,25

Yes, the JITter is that good at inlining property accessors. Perf is a non-issue and should never be considered.