Question

If I create a class that looks like this:

public class TagManager {
private final Context mCtx;

public TagManager (Context ctx) {
    this.mCtx = ctx;
}

}

What is the difference between using

this.mCtx = ctx;

versus

mCtx = ctx;

As far as I can tell they both do the same thing but I can’t find any discussion of it.

Answer 1

For sure it’s the same. It’s just a matter of CodeStyle – it’s up to you to select what you like more.

The only reasonable case to make this.* is when your argument and member variable have the same name. For example

    private final Context ctx;
    public TagManager (Context ctx) {
        this.ctx = ctx;
    }

However, Android Code Style tells us to use m*** prefix for member variables, so this situation should rare happen in your classes.

Good luck