Encapsulation also involves restricting direct access to some of an object's components, which is where accessor and mutator functions come into play. Accessor and mutator functions more commonly known as getters and setters, are public methods that provide controlled access to the private data members of a class.

• Accessor Functions (Getters): These functions allow reading the values of private data members without modifying them. They are crucial for obtaining the state of an object while keeping the data members hidden and protected.

• Mutator Functions (Setters): These functions enable the modification of private data members' values. They provide a controlled way to change the state of an object. By using setters, it's possible to implement validation logic to ensure that only valid data is assigned to the data members.

Ways to use

The primary function of getters and setters is to manage access to a class's members, thereby minimizing the likelihood of errors caused by direct manipulation. For instance, they enable you to restrict the assignment of excessively large values to certain properties.

Note

In the example above we limit the power of the heater by value 10, you can set it more than that.

Implementation Guidelines

When implementing accessor and mutator functions, follow these guidelines to maintain effective encapsulation:

• Consistency: Always use the same naming convention for accessor and mutator functions for clarity and consistency.
• Validation: Implement validation in mutator functions to prevent illegal or inconsistent states of the object.
• Read-Only Members: For read-only class members, only implement accessor functions, if it is not Read-Only it is general a good practice to implement both.
• Performance Considerations: For simple data types, consider returning values by value or by const reference in accessor functions. Use return by reference carefully to avoid unintentional modifications.