19.6 Getters and setters Getter 和 Setters

In the Java programming community, getter and setter methods are a popular design pattern. A getter and a setter are associated with an instance variable for a class. They have names like getFoo and setFoo, where Foo is the name of the variable. The getter method returns the current value of the variable, and the setter method modifies the value.

在 Java 编程社区中，getter 和 setter 方法是一种流行的设计模式。一个 getter 和一个 setter 与一个类的实例变量相关联。它们具有类似 getFoo 和 setFoo 的名称，其中 Foo 是变量的名称。getter 方法返回变量的当前值，setter 方法修改该值。

Getters and setters aren’t strictly necessary, since instance variables can be made public. The argument for getters and setters is that they allow additional functions to be performed while getting and setting, such as updating related values when a variable changes, notifying listeners of changes, or enforcing constraints on values. Even if these features aren’t needed initially, they can be added later without changing the interface.

由于实例变量可以公开，因此不一定必须使用 getter 和 setter 方法。getter 和 setter 的论点是，它们允许在获取和设置时执行其他功能，例如在变量更改时更新相关值，通知更改的侦听器或对值实施约束。即使最初不需要这些功能，也可以稍后添加它们而无需更改界面。

Although it may make sense to use getters and setters if you must expose instance variables, it’s better not to expose instance variables in the first place. Exposed instance variables mean that part of the class’s implementation is visible externally, which violates the idea of information hiding and increases the complexity of the class’s interface. Getters and setters are shallow methods (typically only a single line), so they add clutter to the class’s interface without providing much functionality. It’s better to avoid getters and setters (or any exposure of implementation data) as much as possible.

尽管如果必须公开实例变量，则可以使用 getter 和 setter 方法，但最好不要首先公开实例变量。暴露的实例变量意味着类的实现的一部分在外部是可见的，这违反了信息隐藏的思想，并增加了类接口的复杂性。Getter 和 Setter 是浅层方法（通常只有一行），因此它们在不提供太多功能的情况下为类的接口增加了混乱。最好避免使用 getter 和 setter（或任何暴露的实现数据）。

One of the risks of establishing a design pattern is that developers assume the pattern is good and try to use it as much as possible. This has led to overusage of getters and setters in Java.

建立设计模式的风险之一是，开发人员认为该模式是好的，并尝试尽可能多地使用它。这导致 Java 中的 getter 和 setter 的过度使用。