[gogole]

i just started learning c# and finding it quite difficult to deal with data hiding.even though i understand what public ,protected etc means when i'm coding i'm confused as to what to use, i feel when i use public i make alteration very easy and with protected very restrictive. i just understand their definitions please help with understanding data hiding on the practical side.

[gogole]

waiting......

[Martyr2]

Scope is one of the most tricky things for most programmers. How specific do you get? How much do you hide? One rule I have always followed that seems to work really well is make everything private and "promote" it if you definitely need to access it "directly".

How does this work? If I define a variable in a class' method, I make it private. If I find I need that variable to hold a value beyond a method, I "promote" it to a class variable. Do I need to access the variable directly? I then "promote it again to public.

When passing variables I ask the question "Is it necessary or can I figure out the information in the function itself?"

If you have one big problem with this whole scoping process, I recommend one book called "Code Complete" by Steve McConnell (Microsoft Press). The book is aged a bit, but the idea of scoping and variable lifetime chapters it includes is still good even today. He provides examples in Java, C++, VB, and even PHP/Python etc. It will tell you about variable scope, lifespan, localization etc. Great book.

Below is a link to the book. Enjoy!

Code Complete by Steve McConnell (Amazon.com)

[skyhawk133]

Great info Martyr2! Thanks for sharing!

[Martyr2]

You are welcome.

[gogole]

thanks for th info martyr.

[PsychoCoder]

Martyr2 thats some excellent advice! Thats almost how I do it, with the exception of a couple changes.

/me bookmarks that post