Is there any reason not to use 'protected' properties?

Question

Just wondering...

Is there any reasons not to use protected properties?

I mean instead of using this:

public abstract class Foo
{
    protected Bar { get; private set; }
}

to use this one:

public abstract class Foo
{
    private Bar _bar;

    protected Foo(Bar bar)
    {
        _bar = bar;
    }

    protected GetBar()
    {
        return _bar;
    }
}

Answer 1

I don't see any reason why you would use a GetXXX() method instead of a property regardless of it's modifiers.

Since you tagged this question with C# tag, I strictly recommend using the first approach. That is what properties are for.

Use a method only when value returned by it can be different every time you call it regardless of it's state. For example, DateTime.Now was a mistake and should have been a method.

For more details refer to Property Usage Guidelines on MSDN. On a side note, it's surprising how they haven't had a need to change it since Framework 1.1.

Answer 2

A few more reasons to use properties instead of methods:

• Data binding can only see properties
• You can use read only or write only semantics.