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C# C# Objects Encapsulation with Properties Accessor Methods

Why does the instructor change the name of the field Location to _location when the field changes to private?

Around 1:46 of the video, the instructor changes the name of the field Location to _location when the field changes to private. Are we then required to change the name of a field when the method access changes to private from public as a standard practice going forward?

Also, why does the name change when the field changes to private?

2 Answers

This is done purely because of naming conflicts with the private field and the constructor taking in a value in the parameter also named location, when instantiating the field. For example a person class that has a name field:

class Person { private readonly string name; public Person(string name) { name = name } } Here we have an issue with both things being called name. To solve this, we can use

this.name = name

where this is referring to the current objects field of name

or we can change

private readonly string name

to

private readonly string _name;

Philipp Räse
PLUS
Philipp Räse
Courses Plus Student 10,298 Points

Exactly as Wayne said, there are some so called "naming conventions".

That means, that some particular accessable variable should be written in a special kind.

Short example:

class Invader
{
    // "private" variables are not accessable from outside the class and are shown by naming conventions with an "_" underscore infront of the lower-case first letter
    private MapLocation _location; 

    // "public" variables are always written with an upper-case first letter.
    public MapLocation Location     
    {
        get
        {
            return _location;
        }
        set
        {
            _location = value;
        }
    }
}