Java Variable setting

Question

Is there any difference among case1, case2 and case3 ? Is there any advantage or disadvantage related to performance?

public class Test {

private String name;

    public void action (){

        name = doSome(); // case 1
        setName(doSome()); // case2
        this.name =doSome(); // case3

    }


    public String doSome(){
            return "Hello";
    }

    /**
     * @return the name
     */
    public String getName() {
        return name;
    }


    /**
     * @param name the name to set
     */
    public void setName(String name) {
        this.name = name;
    }
}

Answer 1

I guess, in case 2, we are putting one extra method on the stack i.e setName.But from performance point of view, the gain is almost negligible.So According to me, in this example, we should think from code maintaince and readablity point of view than performance.

Answer 2

Use the debug and breakpoints on Eclipse to see how many steps each case takes. The less the better.

Case 1 took 1 step

Case 2 took 2 steps

Case 3 = same as Case 1

Case 1 is the same as Case 3 the this keyword just refers to the current class.