Is it better use getter methods or to access private fields directly when overriding toString? [duplicate]

Answer 1

using String.format("%s %s", this.getField1(), this.getField2()); would be the best way to do this, becuase the .getXXX() methods might have logic in them that you want like converting NULL references into empty strings or some default value that you would not get by just blindly accessing the private instances. It is the safest way to do it, just in case someone comes along and adds logic to a .getXXX() method and they don't think to update the .toString() implemenation.