What for should I mark private variables as private if they already are?

Question

As far as I know, in C# all fields are private for default, if not marked otherwise.

class Foo
{
  private string bar;
}

class Foo
{
  string bar;
}
         


        

Answer 1

I've been on the fence for a while about this. I used to argue for leaving it implicit, but now I think I'm tipped over towards making it explicit.

Reasons for leaving it implicit:

• It means there's a bigger difference for non-private members (or anything with more access than the default); this highlights the difference when reading the code

Reasons for making it explicit:

• Some developers may not know the defaults: making it explicit means it's clear to everyone
• It shows you've actively made a decision, rather than just leaving it up to the default

These latter points are basically the ones made by Eric Lippert when we discussed it a while ago.