Automatic Properties are used when no additional logic is required in the property accessors. The declaration would look something like this: public int SomeProperty { get; set; } They are just syntactic sugar so you won’t need to write the following more lengthy code: private int _someField; public int SomeProperty { get { return _someField;} … Read more
No there is not. Auto-implemented properties only function to implement the most basic of properties: backing field with getter and setter. It doesn’t support this type of customization. However you can use the 4.0 Lazy<T> type to create this pattern private Lazy<string> _someVariable =new Lazy<string>(SomeClass.IOnlyWantToCallYouOnce); public string SomeVariable => _someVariable.Value; This code will lazily calculate … Read more
Fields and properties look the same, but they are not. Properties are methods and as such there are certain things that are not supported for properties, and some things that may happen with properties but never in the case of fields. Here’s a list of differences: Fields can be used as input to out/ref arguments. … Read more
We use them all the time in Stack Overflow. You may also be interested in a discussion of Properties vs. Public Variables. IMHO that’s really what this is a reaction to, and for that purpose, it’s great.
Update – the answer below was written before C# 6 came along. In C# 6 you can write: public class Foo { public string Bar { get; set; } = “bar”; } You can also write read-only automatically-implemented properties, which are only writable in the constructor (but can also be given a default initial value): … Read more
In a related question I had some time ago, there was a link to a posting on Jeff’s blog, explaining some differences. Properties vs. Public Variables Reflection works differently on variables vs. properties, so if you rely on reflection, it’s easier to use all properties. You can’t databind against a variable. Changing a variable to … Read more
In C# 5 and earlier, to give auto implemented properties an initial value, you have to do it in a constructor. Since C# 6.0, you can specify initial value in-line. The syntax is: public int X { get; set; } = x; // C# 6 or higher DefaultValueAttribute is intended to be used by the … Read more