Especially for simple classes, it is common to supply accessor functions
for all data fields.
class Employee
{ public Employee(String n, double s, Day
{ name = n;
salary = s;
hireDay = d"'
}
public String getName()
{ return name;
}
public double getSalary()
{ return salary;
}
public Day getDay() // WRONG!
{ return hireDay;
}
private String name;
private double salary;
private Day hireDay;
}
Tip
Never return a reference to a mutable object. Consider the following.
Employee harry = new Employee("Harry Hacker", 35000, new Day(1996, 10, 1,l));
Day d = harry.getDay();
d.setYear(1997); // oops--now changed Harry's hire day
Remedy: Return a clone of the field:
public Day getDay() // OK
{ return hireDay.clone ();
}
