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Digital Literacy Computer Basics Computer Languages Programming Paradigms

Shaun Kelly
Shaun Kelly
5,648 Points
Posted by Shaun Kelly
Shaun Kelly
5,648 Points

Difference between attributes and properties?

I thought properties were things about the puppy in object-oriented programming? like shown below...

@property (nonatomic, strong) NSString *name;

1 Answer

Michael McDonald
Michael McDonald
2,877 Points

It's a rather thin difference and the subject of many circular debates in programming forums. The convention I usually use is to declare as properties the values I expect are most likely to be changed by other objects and declare as attributes the values not likely to be changed by other objects. Either can be changed, so the readability of the external call is somethings the determining factor. Does it make better sense to write 'yourObject.input(info)' or to write 'yourObject.input = info' ? Does it make better sense to write 'yourObject.output(report)' or to write 'report = yourObject.output' ? There may have been a more transparent difference at one point but both approaches usually work equally well.