>>>>>>>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!

Finally!!!