Question

I have about 15~20 member variables which needs to be accessed, I was wondering
if it would be good just to let them be public instead of giving every one of them
get/set functions.

The code would be something like

class A { // a singleton class
public:
    static A* get();

    B x, y, z;
    // ... a lot of other object that should only have one copy
    // and doesn't change often

private:
    A();
    virtual ~A();
    static A* a;
};

I have also thought about putting the variables into an array, but I don’t
know the best way to do a lookup table, would it be better to put them in an array?

EDIT:

Is there a better way than Singleton class to put them in a collection

Answer 1

The C++ world isn’t quite as hung up on “everything must be hidden behind accessors/mutators/whatever-they-decide-to-call-them-todays” as some OO-supporting languages.

With that said, it’s a bit hard to say what the best approach is, given your limited description.

If your class is simply a ‘bag of data’ for some other process, than using a struct instead of a class (the only difference is that all members default to public) can be appropriate.

If the class actually does something, however, you might find it more appropriate to group your get/set routines together by function/aspect or interface.

As I mentioned, it’s a bit hard to tell without more information.

EDIT: Singleton classes are not smelly code in and of themselves, but you do need to be a bit careful with them. If a singleton is taking care of preference data or something similar, it only makes sense to make individual accessors for each data element.

If, on the other hand, you’re storing generic input data in a singleton, it might be time to rethink the design.