>>>>>>The age old questions. Should I use a property or a method? Is one faster than the other?
>>>>>
>>>>>Einar,
>>>>>I just looked this up in book Framework Design Guidelines (ISBN-10:0-321-24675-6). This is focused more on resuable frameworks instead of general code, but I think a lot of the ideas still apply:
>>>>>
>>>>>Use a property, rather than a method, if the value of the property is stored in the process memory and the property would just provide access to the value. (I think we can all agree on this)
>>>>>
>>>>>Use a method, rather than a property, in the following situations:
>>>>>-The operation is orders of magnitude slower than a field access would be.
>>>>>-The operation is a conversion, such as Object.ToString method. (Note that DateTime.Now property does not adhere to this guideline, and should)
>>>>>-The operation returns a different result each time it is called, even if the parameters don't change (like Guid.NewGuid).
>>>>>-The operation has a significant and observable side effect.
>>>>>-The operation returns a copy of an internal state.
>>>>>-The operation returns an array.
>>>>
>>>>Thanks for the link Mike. It looks like a good book. I can't seem to find the 2nd edition though.
>>>
>>>That's because it hasn't been released yet. It is being released November 3rd. You can pre-order it on Amazon.
>>That explains that. Could you post the link from Amazon?
>
>http://www.amazon.com/Framework-Design-Guidelines-Conventions-Development/dp/0321545613/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1224181029&sr=1-1
>
>Interestingly at Amazon.com, it sells for about $43.00 US, but at Amazon.ca, it sells for $35.00 Canadian.

What a deal!