Private references to instance variables with attr_accessor available

[ghost]

Wondering which the preferred method...

Reference the instance variable with the "@" notation from within the class:

class Sample
  attr_reader :color

  def initialize(color)
    @color = color
  end

  def demo
    @color
  end
end

or referencing the instance variable with the getter representation:

class Sample
  attr_reader :color

  def initialize(color)
    @color = color
  end

  def demo
    color
  end
end

Likewise the setter variant:

Reference the instance variable with the "@" notation from within the class:

class Sample
  attr_accessor :color

  def initialize(color)
    @color = color
  end

  def demo
    @color = "awesome color"
  end
end

or referencing the instance variable with the getter representation:

class Sample
  attr_accessor :color

  def initialize(color)
    @color = color
  end

  def demo
    self.color = "awesome color"
  end
end

[bbatsov]

It depends - if mutator methods enforce some invariants on an attribute I'd definitely use them. Same goes for reader methods that return a defensive copy of an attribute. Otherwise - attribute access is a little bit faster than method calls (although they might be inlined).