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Immutable Type: public final fields vs. getter

I need a small Container-Class for storing some Strings which should be immutable. As String itself is an immutable type, I thought of something like that:

JavaScript

Many people seem to object using public fields at all and use Getters instead. IMHO this would be just boilerplate in this case, because String itself is immutable.

Other thoughts I may be missing on this one?

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Answer

I would do what you believe is simplest and clearest. If you have a data value class which is only used by a restricted number of classes. esp a package local class. then I would avoid getter/setters and use package local or public fields.

If you have a class which you expect other modules/developers to use, following a getter/setter model may be a safer approach in the long run.

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