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What difference does this "private set" make in this immutable class

I am studying this simple class and wondering what is the real difference in private set

name property

?

If this line just reads public string Name { get; }

, how would the user interaction with the class change?

public class Contact2
{
    // Read-only properties. 
    public string Name { get; private set; }
    public string Address { get; }

    // Private constructor. 
    private Contact2(string contactName, string contactAddress)
    {
        Name = contactName;
        Address = contactAddress;               
    }

    // Public factory method. 
    public static Contact2 CreateContact(string name, string address)
    {
        return new Contact2(name, address);
    }
}

They are read-only properties, and objects of this class can only be created using a static method, so what does it matter if the set

name is private or not?

EDIT

This is part of this MSDN code:
https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb383979.aspx

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2 answers


In C # 6:

public string Name { get; private set; }

Can be set from any method within the class.



public string Address { get; }

This property is read-only and can (and should) only be set on initialization.

They work the same in your code, but the read-only property enforces an additional constraint that makes the property immutable because it can only be set once, whereas you can add a method to the class that mutates to Name

make the class mutable.

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Getter-only autoconfigurations such as public string Name { get; }

were not allowed until C # 6.0, so the code won't compile. This is why you need a private setter before.



See: Automatic properties for Getter only .

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