Question

I noticed when I reflect into an assembly, calls to property accessors sometimes look like methods

// "Reflected" example
class Class1 {
   public bool Boolean { get; set;}
}

class Class2 {
   public Class2() {
       var class1 = new Class1();
       var boolean = class1.get_Boolean();
   }
}

Now I was curious, and I put a method with a similar signature in Class1 that looks like the standard convention for accessors.

// "Hacked" example
class Class1 {
   public bool get_Boolean() { return true; }
}

Somehow, the C# compiler still treats get_Boolean as a method.

What’s the magic sauce to get a method to be a property?

Answer 1

If you look at the IL, you’ll find something like this:

.property instance string Source()
{
    .get instance string System.Exception::get_Source()
    .set instance void System.Exception::set_Source(string)
}

.method public hidebysig specialname newslot virtual 
    instance string get_Source () cil managed 
{
    ...
}

.method public hidebysig specialname newslot virtual 
    instance void set_Source (
        string 'value'
    ) cil managed 
{
    ...
}

So the ‘magic’ is a .property member which glues two methods together.