Question

This is first way:

Public Class MyClass
     Private _Property As String

     Property Property () As String
         Get
             Return _Property 
         End Get
         Set(ByVal Value As String)
             _Property = Value
         End Set
     End Property

    Public Function DoSomething() As String
        Return _Property & Now()
    End Function  
End Class

Also I can do it in this way:

Public Class MyClass

    Public Property As String

    Public Function DoSomething() As String
        Return Property & Now()
    End Function  

End Class

Which way is preferred?

Answer 1

The shorter way is preferred (by me) because it’s easier to read and understand. You can always switch to a fully written property definition if you need to do something special.

Some remarks though.

You should always use the property getter (Property) inside your code. Never use the internal variable (_Property). This is important because this way all interaction with that internal variable goes through a single point which you can than easily modify. Perhaps you want to format the property or throw an exception when the value is incorrect, etc. So the DoSomething function should be exactly the same in both methods.

Public Function DoSomething() As String
  Return Me.Property & Now()
End Function  

Finally the Property shorthand is incorrect. It should be:

Public Property [Property] as String

You didn’t give it a name. I assume you want to name it ‘Property’. I assume this is a reserved word and thus you probably would run into issues. By declaring it like this the compiler won’t trip over it. But you’d be wise to avoid reserved words in your class & method names.