When to use get; set; in c#

Question

I\'m failing to understand what the difference is between initializing a variable, getting its value like this:

 //define a local variable.
   int i;

   i=          


        

Answer 1

The part confusing me was the terms accessor, mutator and property, along with the { get; set; }, as though it's some magical improvement alias over just making the field public.

• accessor = method to access a private field (in C#, both getter/setter)
• mutator = method to change a private field (just a setter)
• property = same as an accessor in C#.

Purely as:

private int myNumber;
public int MyNumber { get; set; }

they are totally useless, serving as noise code version for:

public int myNumber;

If, however you add some checks like so:

private int myNumber;
public int MyNumber
{
    get
    {
        return myNumber;
    }
    set
    {
        if (myNumber < 0)
            throw new ArgumentOutOfRangeException;
        myNumber = value;
    }
}

..then they do actually serve the regular used-to getter/setter purpose.