Question

I see little functional difference between using a property

public readonly property foo as string   get     return bar   end get end property 

or a function

public function foo() as string   return bar end function 

Why would I want to use one form over the other?

Thanks!

Answer 1

I read an interesting article recently in Visual Studio Magazine that discussed the different between Methods and Properties.

Properties are supposed to return a value and the same value each time unless something else is called in between.

A Method on the other hand is typically expected to do something in the background to get the value, or that the method may change the value each time it is called, like GetNextId() or something.

DateTime.Now is a good example of a Property that should have been a Method since it returns a different value each time it is used.

For those interested- here is the article

Choose Between Methods and Properties