Hi list, I'm wondering if it's a good practice to access fields (in
the same class) through its names and not by its accessors, e.g.

public class ComplexNumber {
private double U;
private double V;

// constructor deleted

public double real() {
return U;
}

public double imaginary() {
return V;
}

public double magnitude() {
return (Math.sqrt(Math.pow(U, 2) + Math.pow(V, 2)));
// access here must be U or real(), same with V
}

public double arg() throws ArithmeticException {
return (Math.atan(V / U));
// access here must be U or real(), same with V
}

public ComplexNumber times(ComplexNumber Z) {
return new ComplexNumber(U * Z.U - V * Z.V, U * Z.V + V * Z.U);
}
}

I think it accomplish to OOP rules (encapsulation), the object itself
manages its state interacting with its fields and no other can change their
properties, but I've seen many samples that use getters methods to access
values, I don't know why...any clue ???

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