Class member variables, methods and their state

Posted by codeMonkey on Stack Overflow See other posts from Stack Overflow or by codeMonkey
Published on 2010-05-27T08:41:53Z Indexed on 2010/05/27 8:51 UTC
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How should class member variables be used in combination with class methods?

Let's say I have a class 'C' with a member variable 'someData'.

  1. I call C.getData(), which does not return a value but instead puts data in C.someData. The class that instantiated 'C' first calls C.getData and then uses the data by accessing the member variable C.someData.

  2. I call C.getData() in the class that instantiated 'C' which is a function that returns data.

I myself prefer the second way. But it also depends on the situation and it's a small difference. Is it 'bad' to have class methods that depend on the classes internal state? What are the best conventions?

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