What is the difference between fields and properties in C#?

Differences between fields and properties in C#

In C#, a field is a variable (that can be of any type) that is defined inside a class. It can be used to define the characteristics of an object or a class.

On the other hand, a property is a member of the class that provides an abstractionIt is a concept in object-oriented programming that shows important attributes and hides the unnecessary information. to set (write) and get (read) the value of a private field.

Fields

Fields, as mentioned above, are variables defined in a class. Mostly, they are declared as a private variable, otherwise, the purpose of encapsulation and abstraction would be compromised.

Syntax

using System;
public class Person{
  private int age; // Field "age" declared
  
  private string name; // Field "name" declared
  
  public int Age{ // Property for age used inside the class
  
    get{        // getter to get the person's age
      return age; 
    }
  
    set{        // setter to set the person's age
      age = value;
    }
  
  }
  
  public string Name{ // Property for name used inside the class
  
    get{              // getter to get the person's name
      return name;
    }
  
    set{            // setter to set the person's name
      name = value;
    }
  
  }
}
public class Program{
  
  public static void Main()
  {
  
    Person p1 = new Person();
  
    p1.Age = 25; // setting the age. Note that Property "Age"
                  // is used and not the field "age" as it is private 
  
    Console.WriteLine("Person Age is : {0}", p1.Age); // printing person's age
    p1.Name = "Bob";
    Console.WriteLine("Person Name is: {0}", p1.Name); // printing person's name
  }
}

Explanation

Line 2: We declare a class named Person.
Lines 3–5: We declare two fields named age and name. We mostly declare the fields privately.
Lines 7–30: We define the properties Age and Name that contain the setters and getters to read and write the age (field) and name (field), respectively.
Line 37: We declare an instance p1 of the defined class.
Lines 39 and 44: The property Age and Name sets the value for the field age and name respectively.
Lines 42 and 46: The property Age and Name gets and prints the value of the field age and name respectively.

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What is the difference between fields and properties in C#?

Differences between fields and properties in C#

Fields

Syntax

Properties

Explanation